Games
by papapapeppa
Summary: Even the most patient people have their tipping point. After Tony goes back on his word - and his kiss - Pepper hits hers. Resigning from Stark Industries for good, she decides to stay away from Tony too. But now the question remains: how far will he go to get her back? Set after Iron Man 2. AU. Pepperony. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Even the most patient people have their tipping points. Tony going back on his word - and his kiss - was Pepper's. After she leaves Stark Industries for good, just how far is the Man of Iron willing to go to get her back?**

**This will be a multi-chap. AU.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Tony Stark felt like an asshole.

Not that that was anything new, really. In fact, he was quite used to the feeling. He might have even gone as far as to say if he _didn't_ feel like an asshole, he didn't quite feel like himself. But this...this was a new sort of self-loathing. And for a good reason.

Usually Tony didn't get too caught up in how he treated women. He would wine them and dine them if they wanted, but what happened at the end of the night was ultimately always his primary objective. After that was achieved...he didn't really care what happened to them. That's what he had staff for. They escorted the girl out and away, and Tony ignored their calls for a while, and eventually they got the hint.

But this...this wasn't just any girl he had hurt this time. It was Pepper. _His_ Pepper. His Pepper who was always there, and never not, and always took care of him. His Pepper who was never just any girl to him, no matter how he flirted with her. His Pepper who had seen him at his best and standing on a pedestal, and at his worst and turning blue from a bad combination of drugs and alcohol. She stood by him. She never left his side once.

Until now.

Not that Tony could really blame her. He had outdone himself. He led her on, and then he broke her heart. He kicked himself every day for that too. But the fact of it was that he knew that the second he actually got together with Pepper...everything was going to change. He would be, in essence, settling down. Or at least as far as he was concerned. Monogamy alone would be new. He had done what he had done because he wanted to put off their relationship until later. Not postpone it all together. He kept running it over and over in his head...

_Tony rapped lightly on her office door the next morning. He listened to her light, cheerful voice tell him to come in, and then he paused. She sounded so happy. But his mind was made up. He took a deep breath and wrapped his hand securely around the sleek metal handle, opening the door._

_"Tony," Pepper's face broke into a dazzling smile when she laid eyes on him. "Hey." _

_"Hey, Pep," Tony rubbed the back of his head."Listen...I've been doing some thinking."_

_Something in Pepper's face steeled itself. She didn't like the way this sounded. She crossed her legs and her arms. "Okay..."_

_"That...kiss...last night..I know you said it wasn't weird but...it was, you know? It was a mistake." Tony accidentally looked into her eyes._

_Bad idea._

_Pepper's blue eyes were already clouded over with obvious hurt and sadness. She swallowed and looked away. _

_"I don't think we should make anything of it," Tony continued. "I mean I know you...feel that way...but I just...don't." He shrugged, like it meant nothing to him. He didn't look at her eyes again. _

_Pepper tapped her index finger lightly on her desk, processing. Finally, she nodded once, and turned back to her computer, resuming typing. Her posture had gone ramrod straight. She seemed intent in her work. The wall of professionalism that he had spent years breaking down was back up, just like that. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" she asked after a moment when he was still standing there. _

_Tony nodded. "That will be all, Ms. Potts," he replied, doing his best to sound nonchalant. He watched her type furiously for a moment more, and then left, shutting the door softly behind him._

The next few days hadn't gone well after that. She stayed on, kept him running on time, got him to sign paperwork, but he didn't see her at all. She kept her distance - actually operating within the realms of a real PA (she wanted her old job back after the job of CEO had practically killed her). He got brief, business like texts and emails from her. A couple of times she got JARVIS to remind of things.

But Tony was left on his own for things like meals and entertainment. Pepper used to take care of those things for him too. He didn't realize what a large part of his life she had actually become until he was already pushing her away.

Which is what got Tony here, staring at his computer screen, rereading her letter for the thousandth time. He practically had her words memorized.

_Dear Mr. Stark,_

_ It is my regretful duty to inform you that I am offically resigning from Stark Industries, effective immediately. While you and your company have been very kind to me over the decade that I have worked there, I believe it is time for me to expand my professional horizons._

_ I have already arranged for another woman to replace me, in lieu of my being there. She is a professional, energetic, well-organized woman named Susan. I believe she is a better fit at this time for the companies needs, and I am certain that you two will get along very well. _

_ I have already cleaned out my office; any and all of my personal belongings have been removed, and I have scanned in all technology and equipment belonging to Stark Industries. If there is any problem in this aspect, send me an email, and I will come back up to sort it out._

_ Thank you very much for all the opportunities that your company has provided me with over the years, along with a wealth of invaluable experience. I have grown fond of watching the company adapt and shift to the changing times, and I am certain it will continue to do this in my absence._

_ Best of luck to you, both personally and professionally - although I am sure this is not needed. _

_Sincerely__,_

_ Virginia Potts_

To say it felt like a slap in the face to Tony would have been an understatement. He knew that if anyone else was reading it, they would think it was a great resignation letter. It was well thought out but concise, nice but professional, it complimented the company and cemented that she was leaving. All at once. But as it stood, he wasn't anyone else. And when Tony read it, he missed the warmth that he could usually even find in her words.

It didn't sound like his Pepper. It sounded like a mock-up of his Pepper.

Tony stood slowly and drained the rest of the scotch in his glass and then made his way to the elevator. He had to see for himself. He pressed the button for the floor her office was on, and impatiently waited for the car to take him up.

Tony found himself grasping the smooth metal handle, just as he had that day. It occurred to him somewhere that that might have been the last time he saw her. He tried to remember what she was wearing. How her hair was fixed. But he couldn't.

Tony turned it and stepped inside slowly, not wanting to believe what he saw. Pepper didn't lie in her letter. Everything was gone.

He had spent enough time in that room over the last ten years that Pepper had worked there that Tony knew where everything was - well, where everything _used_ to be. The light blue walls had a slightly larger patch on the left wall where she had a print of Monet's_ Water Lilies_ hanging. She had a bedazzled green pencil cup on her desk (which she always passionately attested was a gift from a dear friend). Her blazer usually hung over the back of her desk chair casually as she typed. She had a picture of them on her desk - a couple of them, actually. One from the early years, one from somewhere in between one that was post-him becoming Iron Man. They were always lined up and the glass was lint free...

And now it was all gone.

Tony took a deep breath as he took in all that was left: an industrial book case, a long desk, a computer, and a rolling chair.

Not one thing was left of Pepper, and it was all Tony's fault.

Tony walked over and sat in the chair, feeling more alone than ever.

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	2. Chapter 2

**WOW. I was not expecting that kind of response to this story. I'm so happy you all are interested in it. I'll take the time to reply to all of your reviews in a second.**

**In which Pepper has had it with Tony.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Pepper Potts was running very, very late.

She woke up to the sun filtering through her curtains in her bedroom, warming her face pleasantly. She had smiled and stretched slowly. It occurred to her distantly that she couldn't remember the last time she had woken up from the sun and not her alarm clock blaring her awake. It must have been college at least...

_Oh God._

Pepper sat bolt up right, grabbing her alarm clock off of the stand and blinking at the digital numbers until they swam into focus. 7:06.

Three hours behind schedule.

Pepper hastily put it back on the nightstand and flung the covers off of her, sliding off of the bed. She all but ran into her bathroom and stared at her wide-eyed reflection in the mirror, already processing what she could skip and what was vital. She snatched a face wipe that she saved for occasions when she was running short on time and scrubbed her face furiously. She smoothed on moisturizer over it, brushed her teeth, threw her hair up in a bun, put on mascara and blush, and dashed back out into her bedroom.

It didn't take her long to locate the pieces she needed for the day and shimmy into them. She went to slip her feet into the pair of heels that was always waiting, lined up neatly at the foot of her bed...but they weren't there.

"Shit," Pepper whispered to herself. It was all so _unlike her_. She hadn't forgotten to set her alarm since the 6th grade. Her heels were _always_ there, whether she had to go in the next day or not. Nothing was in its place, and it was starting to get to her. She felt out of control. And that was something she didn't tolerate well.

Pepper walked quickly into the living room and swept the room for her shoes. She found them piled haphazardly (well, haphazardly for _her_) next to the couch and put them on.

She clicked her way into the kitchen and grabbed her thermos, figuring she would have to get her coffee while she was at work. She was suddenly thankful that she had worked for Tony long enough - and that they were good enough friends - that he wouldn't get mad at her. She knew she would never live down being late, however. She could practically hear him taunting her about the "Great Pepper Potts" finally making a mistake...

Pepper froze just as she was putting her thermos in her work bag.

_Tony._

She removed her thermos from her bag and set it down on the counter with a dull metallic noise and a heavy heart. Reality settled down on her, and weighed down every part of her. She didn't have a job to go to. No Tony to make fun of her. Nothing to set her alarm clock for. No reason to put her shoes at the end of her bed just as she had done every night for over ten years...

Pepper had quit.

She slipped off her blazer and walked numbly back into her bedroom, hanging it back up carefully. She didn't regret her decision per se. Regret was such a strong word. But that didn't mean she was readily okay with the fact that she didn't work for Stark Industries anymore. It didn't definitely didn't mean she was okay with why she had to leave.

Pepper slipped off her heels and stacked them neatly at the foot of her bed (if things looked like they were out of order it would make her feel worse), and then she spotted the boxes of things she had taken home from her office. She grabbed the top one, which was labeled "Decor" neatly in black Sharpie. She lifted the lid with shaking hands and stared down into the box that held what felt like her entire desk. The sum of her experience with Stark Industries. All of her friendships, experiences, challenges, and accomplishments.

Pepper felt her eyes mist over as she picked the box up and set it down on her bed. She slipped out of her suit and put on sweatpants and a tank top, and took a seat next to the box, pawing through it gingerly. It didn't look like much at all when she had it all here in front of her instead of spread across her long desk. She picked up her red stapler and turned it over in her hand. Each thing in the box had a memory she attached to it. A couple of days after she had gotten the stapler Tony had been in her office signing something, and needed to borrow it. He punched out what he needed, and then paused with it in his hand. He had held it up to her head and gone, "Huh. Look at that. Matches your hair."

There was her mouse pad that Tony had scrawled his name across when she first started (he told her he didn't usually give out autographs, but for her he would make an exception), the bedazzled green pencil cup that Rhodey had given to her a couple years before the Afghanistan incident on Administrative Professionals' Day (it had come with chocolate in it and a few pencils - he said he knew Tony would forget, but he wanted her to know he was better off for having her around), the stress ball that Happy had tossed back to her one day (he said she looked like he needed it - that she was still pretty, but she looked like she could use it)...

Pepper took each thing out of the box, feeling her eyes fill with tears a little more with each item. She chided herself internally for pulling herself away from her friends. Maybe she was being childish. Normal people didn't just quit their jobs because they were having problems with their boss. Happy's face when he dropped her off after she told him crossed her mind, and her stomach churned unpleasantly.

But at the same time, Pepper knew it was so much more than just issues with a higher up. It went so much deeper.

She looked in the box again and saw the three pictures lying at the bottom. She bit her lip, reached in, and picked up her favorite. Pepper had already been working for Tony for about four years when it was taken. They were no longer awkward around each other. They had fallen into certain patterns and habits (Pepper escorted the previous night's woman out, they had lunch on Tuesday's, if he knew a holiday was coming up he simply left her a note telling her to pick something out and act surprised), they were comfortable around each other, secure in their dynamic, and had also formed a true - albeit unlikely - friendship.

_The picture had been taken at some charity gala that she had dragged Tony to. He fought her tooth and nail, as he always did, but eventually Pepper won out, as she always did. She had a hard enough time keeping him under control at galas, but this particular one presented an extra challenge - it was in the afternoon. _

_And it had no bar._

_After putting up with a lot of whining, grumbling, snarky comments to strangers, and snarky comments to _her_, Pepper suggested they take a walk outside. Tony protested at first, but she simply hooked her arm through his and started walking, a calm smile on her face. She was never sure why it was that easy. But he followed her._

_Pepper led them onto a small patio overlooking the ocean. With the sun up and glinting off of the waves and the sand a nice golden color, it was an incredible view. But as she stood there, she became acutely aware of the fact that Tony was taking in a different view._

_Pepper looked over to find Tony staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. It was one she had never seen there before. She shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, Mr. Stark?"_

_Tony had stared at her for a moment more before he blinked and said, "What?"_

_Pepper gave him a look. "You were staring."_

_"Was I?"_

_"Mm," Pepper affirmed with a nod. _

_"Oh," Tony said nonchalantly. His brown eyes searched her face, and then he turned to look out at the ocean, keeping his arm securely around hers by putting his hand in his pocket. He opened his mouth to say something, and then he closed it again, seemingly deciding better of it._

_Pepper decided it was best not to press, and looked out as well, content that he was - for the moment - silent and not doing anything to damage his already cracked reputation. She stood with him in silence, her arm still linked through his, but with both hands on the rail. _

_After a moment, Tony spoke. "Hey, Pep?" _

_She looked at him, the sun highlighting his face in an almost unfair way. "Yeah?"_

_"What about turning coconuts into a renewable resource?" He looked at her._

_Pepper gave him a skeptical look. "Coconuts," she echoed._

_"Yeah," Tony rubbed his chin absently with his free hand, eyeing a palm tree below them. "The oil in them. You could probably do something with that. It has potential."_

_Pepper blinked at him for a minute, and then laughed incredulously. "I'm sure if anyone could take a coconut and turn it into fuel, it would be you." She looked out at the ocean again, vaguely aware of Tony's eyes on her again. _

_"You think so?" His tone was hard to decipher. _

_Pepper smiled softly. "I'm sure."_

_Tony paused, and then put his other hand on her forearm and said, "You know, I'm lucky to have you, Potts."_

_Pepper looked at him in surprise, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. She expected to find him smirking sarcastically, but he wasn't. His warm brown eyes were just locked onto hers, and he was smiling softly._

And that was the moment that the society photographer had chosen to capture. Through the doorway, their arms linked, him looking sincere and her looking in awe. It was the perfect moment. And she had interpreted it so painfully wrong. Pepper was never one for wallowing in self-pity, but that...that still hurt. The wound was still fresh.

Pepper pawed at a tear, annoyed with herself, and put the things back in the box. She was just putting in the pencil cup when her phone warbled from her bag in the other room. She left what remained out of the box on the bed to be put away later, and hurried into the other room to catch it before it went to voice mail She grabbed it from its designated holder in her tote, and looked at the caller ID.

Tony.

Pepper paused, unsure if she should let it go or not, and then hesitantly pressed the "accept call button". "Hello?" she answered, focusing on keeping her voice stable.

"You left," Tony deadpanned.

Pepper sighed. "Yes," she said slowly. "I left."

There was some clinking on the other end. He was fidgeting with something.

Pepper pressed her lips together. It was so him. She missed it already. She could practically see him in his lab, flicking his nano ball around, or taking something apart and putting it back together again absently while he talked. His hands were always busy.

"Why?" Tony asked after a bit, pulling Pepper out of her thoughts.

"I told you why," Pepper said calmly. "It was all in the le-"

"Yeah, the letter, I know, the letter," there was an edge of hurt in Tony's voice. "I'm not asking about the letter, I asked you why you left. The real reason, please. Not any of the bureaucratic bullshit that you put here." A paper flourished. He had printed it out. Of course.

Pepper took a deep breath. "I wanted to expand my professional horizons."

"Yeah, okay, about that, what the fuck does that actually mean? Because I don't think it means anything. I think you made it up," Tony shot back. There was a beat of silence, and then he softened his tone. "Why did you leave, Pepper?"

Pepper gave a laugh that was equal parts cold and in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You march yourself into my office and tell me what you told me, and now you're asking why I left?" she rubbed her forehead, searching for the right words. "I made a fool out of myself. I took everything that you said and, and _did_ on that rooftop as how you actually felt, and you were just in some thank-God-I-didn't-die haze. It's embarrassing."

"Oh, come on, we can put that behind us. Tell you what, I won't bring it up if you don't, deal? Just...stop...whatever this is. Come back. We'll forget about it," Tony tried to keep his tone light.

"I can't forget about it, Tony. It's nowhere near that easy, and you know it," Pepper said exasperatedly.

"Why not?"

"Stop it."

"If I can forget it you can too."

"Because I actually felt something for you!" Pepper snapped. "Because even though I know how you are with women I thought that maybe I was different, and I wasn't, and now I don't know why I'm surprised, I mean it's not like I haven't seen you do the same thing to - God - _hundreds_ of other girls," she rambled. "But I thought it would be different because I..." she caught herself and shut her mouth, letting her sentence go unfinished, swallowing the shards of the words she didn't say.

There was another beat of silence - even the tinkering had stopped - and then, "Because you what, Pep?"

Pepper shook her head. She didn't really have anything to lose. "Because I love you," she near whispered. "And I thought that made a difference." She swallowed again, trying to stop her throat from tightening up. "Turns out it doesn't."

The silence on the other end lasted longer than usual. She could hear him breathing.

"Hello?" Pepper tried after a minute or two had passed.

"Yeah, no, I'm here," Tony said quietly, his tone cryptic, giving nothing away.

"Oh," was all Pepper could bring herself to say. Well, there was that.

"I'm sorry, Pepper - ," Tony began.

Pepper laughed coldly and shook her head. "Yeah, okay, I get it."

"No, listen to me, okay? Please," Tony pleaded with her. Or as close as he ever got to pleading.

Pepper fell silent in response, waiting.

"I'm sorry," Tony repeated. "That...hurting you wasn't...what that was supposed to do," he pressed his palm to his forehead and it sent a quiet _smack_ through the phone. "I don't really know how to explain why I did it, or what the...rationale was there, but it was there, and that's the best I can give you. Please, come back, we'll get your office set back up - no, I'll get you a new office. I'll build you an office. It'll be bigger. Better. More windows. I know you like windows. And the ocean."

Pepper smiled sadly. "Same old Tony," she replied calmly. "Let's face it. You and I both know you're only sorry because you lost an employee."

"I-"

"No," Pepper cut him off. "My turn to talk now."

Tony stopped talking.

"You can_not_ continue going around taking people for granted," Pepper told him seriously. "You are so smart, Tony. A genius. But you are _clueless_ when it comes to dealing with real, live people, who aren't rechargeable. You go around and you expect to get exceptions to rules just because you're you. But let me tell you right now; half of the reason you haven't had to deal with any repercussions for the past decade or so is because of _me_. Because I've been right behind you, cleaning up your messes. This whole...ordeal has changed how I see you. I hope you know that. You didn't tell me you were dying, so I can't trust you. You changed your mind about me, so every woman really is the same to you. And I don't think I'll ever be able to get the images of you destroying your own mansion out of my head."

"Pe-"

"Ah," Pepper cut him off again and continued. "And if you hear nothing else I'm saying, please, please hear me on this. If you keep operating the way you are right now, you'll wind up with no one. There's only a couple left. Be careful with them."

Tony sighed. "Pepper..." he said hoarsely.

"Goodbye, Mr. Stark," she said briskly, and hung up the phone.

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	3. Chapter 3

**As always, you all amaze me. Your love for this story only feeds it and makes me write faster. I'm so so happy everyone is enjoying it.**

**In which Rhodey symbolizes commonsense, and gives Tony an idea.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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"Who was the idiot who gave up the opportunity to call a group of kangaroos a kanga_crew_?" Tony asked, leaning back in his rolling chair and tossing his nano ball up the air and catching it.

Rhodey stared at him, dumbstruck. "You have _got_ to be kidding me," he deadpanned, leaning forward on his knees to look at his friend.

Tony glanced at him and caught his nano ball with one hand. "No, I'm not. I'm actually quite serious. I think kangaroos would get a whole hell of a lot more popular. Aren't they an endangered species or...something?"

"Man, we are not talking about kangaroos!" Rhodey said exasperatedly.

"I'm talking about kangaroos," Tony replied evenly.

"You're not an animal person," Rhodey pointed out.

Tony considered this. "I could be."

"You could not be, they don't have any mechanical parts," Rhodey rubbed a hand over his face. "Now can we _please_ get back to what you told me?"

"_Kangacrew."_

"Will you shut the hell up about kangaroos?" Rhodey sat up again and looked solidly at Tony. "Pepper left?"

Whatever semblance of happiness was painted on Tony's face fell. "Yeah," he said in a significantly different tone than before. "She did do that."

"What the _hell _did you do this time?" Rhodey asked.

"Why does it always have to be something I did?" Tony narrowed his eyes. "Maybe she wanted to...I don't know...expand her professional horizons."

Rhodey blinked at him. "What does that even mean?"

Tony threw up a hand and set his high-tech toy down on his desk. "Hell if I know. That's just what she said in her letter."

"Well..." Rhodey began slowly. "Something had to have happened before that, right?"

Tony craned his neck to one side and then the other, stretching it. "Ah...yepp. Yeah, something...did happen. You could say that."

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. "Meaning what?"

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, swallowed, and then looked away.

"Tony," Rhodey softened his tone and called his friend's attention back to him, leaning onto one knee. "Look, the last time I saw either of you, you were making out on a rooftop. Now you're telling me she just up and quit? What happened?"

Tony took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "I...well the next day...I kind of...look, all I did was go into her office and tell her that the kiss was...a fluke, and that I didn't...you know...feel that way. About her."

Rhodey stared, not amused and in disbelief, at Tony.

Tony nodded a bit and began alternating between snapping his fingers and clapping his hands.

Rhodey shook his head and sat back in his chair again. "Do I even want to know why?

Tony shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Don't lie to me," Rhodey deadpanned.

Tony looked up sharply. "What?"

"You heard me," Rhodey said calmly. "Listen, I've watched you two circle around each other for over _ten years. _Ten damn years, Stark. With the same pattern: she cleans up your messes, takes care of your ass, and keeps you under control. All while she's the only constant woman in your sorry life. The only person who I've _ever_ heard you babble about like a nut. So you can understand why I say that I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth right now," he shook his head like he was disappointed "Don't feel that way. You think I was born yesterday?"

Tony said nothing, but looked away again, either unable or unwilling to meet his buddy's eyes.

Rhodey sighed and waited in silence for Tony to respond. When he showed no intention of jumping back in on the conversation he asked, "Can you at least tell me why?"

Tony glanced at him, and then went back to staring at the window. "Why what?"

"Why you did it," Rhodey clarified.

Tony shrugged like he didn't really know - but he did. He knew exactly why. Pepper was different. Pepper had always been different. And crossing over from familiar to what they both wanted felt like...too much. Way too much. Something he couldn't handle. He had never been good with people. As a general rule, he played better with things with gears instead of ears. If they got together, he would just wind up doing something to screw it up. And then she would be hurt. And hurting Pepper just wasn't an option to him. So he pushed her away, and hurt her worse.

Made sense.

"So, you're ass got scared, and you ran," Rhodey said, as if he could read his mind.

Tony got up from his chair, walked over to his bar, and poured himself a scotch. "I plead the fifth."

"This isn't court."

"Really? Because it kinda feels like it. What with you trying to find me guilty, and all," Tony took a sip and sat back down.

"I'm not trying to interrogate you," Rhodey said tiredly. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

Tony took another deep breath, the alcohol burning in his throat. "I wanted to go with what I said on the roof," he admitted quietly. "I meant everything I said. Everything I did. I don't tend to...whatever. But I didn't want to break her heart later, so I broke it now instead. I don't mix well with people. We both know that."

Rhodey murmured his agreement.

"And as it turns out, she had had enough. She told me as much earlier."

Rhodey shot him a look. "Wait, you talked to her?"

"Yeah," Tony told him. "I called her earlier today. She told me that she loved me, and that I was going to wind up alone."

Now Rhodey's eyes were wide. "And you said?"

"Nothing. How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?"

Rhodey looked at Tony like he was crazy. "I don't know, maybe tell her that you love her too? And don't you dare even try and say you don't, because we both know that's bullshit."

Tony - who had opened his mouth to protest - quickly closed it again.

Rhodey paused, and then leveled with him. "Look, she said it. Meanwhile you're still running around acting like an asshole. I always knew Pepper was the more mature of you two, but I had no idea it was by this much." He got up and crossed the lab to grab his jacket that was sitting by the door. "You gotta figure this out, Tony."

Tony narrowed his eyes at his friend. "And just how do you suggest I do that?"

"Go. See. Her," Rhodey deadpanned. "Send her flowers until she can't leave her house without stepping on them. Buy her a car. I don't know. You know Pepper better than anyone else. You figure it out. I'll see your sorry ass later."

Tony made a crude hand gesture in place of waving.

Rhodey laughed and exited.

Tony took another sip of his scotch and swirled it around in his glass. He knew Pepper better than anyone else?

Did he?

Tony supposed he did know certain things. Like her Chinese takeout order (vegetable lo mein , where she was from (Connecticut), her favorite color (green), and her favorite book (_To Kill A Mockingbird_). But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he really _did_ know a lot of things about her that he had taken for granted. He had a patchwork version of her life in his head that he had crafted from the little snippets that she accidentally let slip over the years. But there were things he didn't know as well, and that bothered him.

Tony felt an urge build up inside him that he was used to associating with machines and not people - he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to learn every detail, and fill in all the gaps that he either didn't know or had forgotten, and he wanted to commit it to memory. He was never a mushy romantic - nor would he ever be - but Pepper...

Pepper was different.

And she always would be.

Sitting back in his chair, Tony Stark made a decision he had never before made in his life. For the first time, _he_ was going to be the one chasing the girl.

He felt a smirk crawl across his face, and then he drained what was left in his glass.

He was up to the challenge.

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	4. Chapter 4

**You guys do nothing but bring me joy. I adore adore adore all of you. You all rock.**

**In which Happy has a secret, and Pepper won't budge.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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"What do you mean, 'no'?" Tony asked, annoyed. It wasn't a word he was used to hearing. _Especially_ not from this particular person.

Happy folded his arms across his chest, his expression steely. "No."

Tony looked hard at him for a minute. "I'm sorry, what is it I pay you I pay you to do again? Because I don't really think it's to stand around and tell me you won't do things. I thought it was to drive me places," he said. He knew he was being a jerk, but he was standing directly in the way of him implementing his first plan.

"I'll drive you anywhere you want, Boss," Happy told Tony calmly. "Anywhere - except Pepper's house."

Tony rubbed his forehead. "Why?"

"Because you've caused her enough trouble. She told me what happened. She cried," Happy put the keys in his hand deep in his pocket. "And quite frankly, I blame her not being here anymore on you."

Tony stared blankly back at his driver for a moment, Pepper's warning's running through his head.

_"If you keep operating the way you are right now, you'll wind up with no one. There's only a couple left. Be careful with them."_

Anytime they got into a fight, his staff always froze him out for the duration of it - Happy included. Hell, it had happened earlier that month when he thought he was dying and was being a little shit. He should have known that when she resigned he'd see the effects in everyone else almost immediately.

"I'm trying to go make things right," Tony tried to explain to him. "I know I screwed things up. That's kinda why I need to go see her face to face."

Happy didn't budge. He shook his head somberly. "Sorry, Boss, but here's nothing left to make right. If she was upset enough to leave, then you did more than just screw things up. You need to let her go. I'm not going to be the one to disturb Pep's peace."

Tony opened his mouth to argue, and then closed his mouth. He narrowed his eyes. "'Pep'?" he asked accusingly. "When did she become 'Pep' to you?" He had no right to be jealous - not in light of everything else - but that didn't stop him. He was even more possessive of Pepper now that he had no part of her at all.

Happy said nothing in response, but shifted a bit and looked away.

"Oh my God," Tony crossed his arms as well. "Oh. My. God. You have a little crush on Pepper, don't you?"

If looks could kill, Happy would have gone down in history as Tony Stark's murderer. "If you can call something I've felt for seven years 'little', then yeah. You could say that."

Tony straightened his posture, looking at his chauffeur carefully, his arms falling to his sides. "You're in love with her," he said in a new, quieter tone.

Happy nodded almost imperceptibly.

Tony laughed coldly and incredulously. "I can't believe this," he threw his hands up slightly and took a couple of steps before shoving them in his pockets and coming back to him. "So you're not going to let me at least go give her her job back...because you love her. So you would rather have her be miserable, than have us be on good terms. No, that's good logic, man. Keep it up. Good lookin' out."

Happy stared back at him coolly "I never said that. I just know that what you think is going to happen and what actually happens usually stand worlds apart. I'm not giving you another chance to hurt her."

Tony blinked at him, his jaw clenched. "She's not yours," he pointed out.

"Why not? You didn't want her," Happy reminded him sharply.

Tony felt his gut twist like he'd been punched by the ex-boxer. "You know what? Fine. I can find a way there. I do have other methods of transportation," he snapped, turning around and going back into the house, making his way quickly to his lab. He couldn't think about what he was doing - he was far past that point. Without pausing he changed into a body suit, and had JARVIS help him get into the Iron Man suit.

* * *

It didn't take Tony long to fly to Pepper's house in the suit - but he had already decided it wasn't the best idea. He collected bad press the way Charlie Sheen collected ankle bracelets and stints in rehab, and he didn't exactly need the headline "IRON MAN NOT SO STRONG: BEGS FOR GIRL BACK" being shared around. Instead, he did a couple of loops over the city, thinking through his options. Showing up at her house in the suit and playing music out of his chest like the scene in _the Breakfast Club _was out because it'd draw too much attention - something that she hated.

Tony flew home and changed back into his normal clothes, abandoned on his lab floor. He decided driving himself over there would be his best - and sanest - option. He looked over his cars and then got in his silver Audi, speeding all the way over there before he lost the rest of his nerve.

Happy's admission had messed with Tony more than he'd let on. No matter how he tried, he couldn't shake the image of Happy getting Pepper. Of them getting married, because Happy was just right for her - kinda like him, but without all of the destructive qualities that came with a Stark. He could see them moving to some Midwestern town, and adopting a couple of kids.

The thought made Tony's blood boil. He couldn't quite explain why.

Maybe because on a very real level, Tony knew Pepper deserved so much more than him. She deserved stability, and trust, and knowing where the person she was with was - or at least have the reassurance that he wasn't off flying around and getting himself killed. And he knew that Happy could give her all that. Happy could be the guy for Pepper that Tony never was able to be.

Shoving all thoughts of Happy and Pepper out of his mind, he knocked on her door. He could think about that later (and he would).

After a few moments, the door swung open to reveal Pepper, looking expectant. She was dressed casually - barefoot, shorts, a blue button-up with the sleeves pushed up and her hair down - and was wearing almost no make up. She took in who was standing in front of her and her expression fell.

Tony gave a tiny wave. "Uh...hey."

Pepper raked a hand through her hair. "What do you want, Tony?" she asked sharply, leaning against the door frame.

"I..I want to talk to you, Pepper," he told her seriously.

"We are talking. This is talking," she replied coolly.

Tony gave her a look. "You know what I mean. You can't just walk away without us really talking."

"We talked on the phone," Pepper replied, not phased.

Tony sighed. "I want to fix this, bu-"

"Fix this," Pepper repeated, cutting him off. Her eyebrows rose on her forehead. "You want to fix it." She laughed incredulously and shook her head. "Please, _please_ be joking."

Tony gritted his teeth. "If you would just _listen_ to me..."

"We are so far past listening," Pepper told him almost sadly. "You kissed me. I kissed back. The next day you told me that you didn't actually feel that way. I resigned because every time I heard your damn voice..." she trailed off and drummed her fingers on her doorway, annoyed at herself and at him almost equally. "And then when you called, I told you how I felt, and all you gave me in return was a weak apology. Listening may have worked each time before, but it's too late now. There's not even a friendship here to preserve anymore, Stark."

"Bullshit," Tony looked at her steadily.

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "_Excuse me_?"

Tony shrugged. "You heard me," he replied. "I said, 'bullshit'. Because that's what you're speaking right now. If you hate me that's one thing but..." he locked eyes with her. "The rest of that? You're lying to yourself, Potts."

Pepper stared back at him for a moment. "So, that's your big play, huh?" she asked in almost a deathly sort of calm. "You thought you'd come to my house, and just lay it on me. Tell me I was wrong to be mad at you, and that I was lying to myself. Let me ask you something, Tony, what are you even trying to achieve here?"

"I want you to come back," Tony said, his tone growing stronger the more annoyed he got. "To Stark Industries, to me."

"Come back to you?" Pepper's eyebrows went up even further and her volume increased slightly. "I came to you in the first place! And then you thought you wanted me, and then you actually didn't. Or did you already forget what we're fighting about?"

Tony took a step back, sucking in a deep breath and trying to keep his cool. Yelling at her wouldn't help. He ran a hand roughly through his hair and - louder than he intended - said, "I'm _trying_ here, okay? Do you not get that? I don't just show up on people's doorsteps, Pepper. I'm not good at this, you know that."

"Yes, I know that. Because I stood by your side for _twelve years_-"

"And it took you twelve seconds to walk away," Tony cut her off, overpowering her with volume.

Pepper straightened herself and took a step back, like he'd hit her.

Tony opened his mouth and then closed it, looking away. He knew he'd gone too far.

"That, right there, is exactly why I refuse to come back," Pepper said softly, crossing her arms. "You think I don't want to come back? I've worked there so long it's practically my home. Lord knows I was there more than I was ever here," she gestured to her house. "I wish just as much as you do that we could go back to that moment and just..._not_. But it happened, and all this did too, and it's too far gone. Just hire a new assistant," hurt flashed behind her eyes. "Lord knows there are plenty of pretty girls willing to do the job."

"I want you," Tony told her quietly.

Pepper paused. "I wanted you too."

"I miss you, Pepper." The words were out of Tony's mouth before he could stop them.

"I miss you too," Pepper admitted like it was just another fact. "But it's not enough."

Tony rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. "I'm willing to play this on your terms - just hear me out," he added quickly when he saw her roll her eyes. "Whatever you want me to do to make this better, I will do. Whatever you want me to say, get, do...I don't care, Potts. Name your price. Because right now I will do whatever it takes to get you to come back. Not just as an employee but...Jesus Christ, I can't believe you're making me say it...as a _friend_."

"If you really cared about me as a friend at all, you'd realize that seeing you, hearing your voice, seeing your goddamn name on the building hurts right now," Pepper pointed out, tears threatening to brim up in her eyes. "And as a friend, you'd want what was best for me. As a friend you would want me to be in a place that was good for me, healthy. Somewhere that didn't make me want to cry."

"So I'll put you in a different wing!" Tony tried desperately. "We can do this slowly. I don't expect everything to be fixed overnight. I'm a little selfish, we both already knew that."

Pepper gave half of a cold chuckle. "Why yes, we certainly did," she murmured.

Silence stretched between them. After a moment, Tony broke it. "I'm trying," he repeated, hands in his pockets as he kicked a stray rock. "We've gotten into fights before. Huge ones. We've always, you know, gotten through them or...whatever."

"This is different and you know it," Pepper leaned against the door frame. "That was back when I believed in you."

Tony looked up sharply, searching her face.

Pepper's expression was steeled, even as guilt coiled in her stomach. There was a part of her - a very large part of her - that wanted to apologize, remind him of his one o'clock meeting that he was going to be late for, and tell him that everything was fine. But she knew it wasn't. It couldn't be this time unless something big happened. Something had to give. And apologies just weren't going to get them there this time.

"We keep doing this," she near whispered. "We've gotten into this pattern of you screwing up, me cleaning up after you, us fighting, you apologizing - not even verbally, most of the time - and then me giving you yet another chance and...I'm sick of it. It's not healthy. For either of us. You have got...more than your share of secrets, Stark, and if those are all that you hold dear in this world then I wish you the best of luck. You'll need it."

"That's not all I hold dear. That's not true, and you know it," Tony was practically fuming.

Pepper stepped back into her house and began to shut the door. "Just...leave me alone. Please." She closed the door on him with finality, giving him one last glimpse of the hurt on her face.

Tony took another deep breath, trying to keep calm, and then kicked her step. Hard. It made a loud _thud_.

"Don't kick my door!" Pepper yelled from inside.

"It was your step!" Tony shot back.

There was a pause. "Oh. Well, don't kick that either!"

Tony looked around for a minute, feeling defeated, and then got in his Audi and left.

* * *

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**GAH, I am so sorry this went a few days without being updated. My bad guys. School and such, you know the drill. But as always, your support is AMAZING, and some of you have a knack for summarizing this story within a few words, and it makes me happy.**

**In which Pepper sees Happy in a new light, and Tony is propositioned by Fury.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Pepper woke up to her doorbell being rung around 6:30. Now that she was in job-hunting mode, she figured she didn't really have to get up until seven. She blinked sleepily, and started running down a list in her head of people who would disturb her this early in the morning.

She didn't like the thought of the first person that popped into her mind: Tony. She sat up in bed, wrapping her arms around her knees. Was he desperate enough to show up at her house even after what happened the previous night? The more she thought on it - and the more the cobwebs of sleep left her mind and her thinking clarified - the more she realized even Tony Stark wasn't that stupid.

Pepper paused. Who did that leave? She couldn't come up with anyone else who would see it as a fit thing to do to show up at her house, unannounced, before seven.

Then she realized that there hadn't been another sound after the doorbell rang. Whoever it was was either waiting very patiently, or had already left.

Hesitantly, Pepper slid out of her bed and made it quickly before slipping on a robe and descending the stairs to her front door. She peeked out of the large windows at the top of the door and saw...no one?

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows and opened the door, looking around. She was just thinking that it was a prank - kids in her neighborhood did have a bad habit of finding new and exciting ways to annoy everyone on the street - when she looked down. Sitting carefully perched on the top step was a very large bouquet of two dozen red carnations.

At first, Pepper felt her cheeks grow hot with a flare of anger. No, Tony wasn't dumb enough to show up in person after what had happened yesterday afternoon - but he was just dumb enough to send her a huge bundle of her favorite flowers to try and prove that he knew her. Carefully, she scooped up the flowers and took them inside, closing the door with her foot behind her.

Pepper laid the flowers down on her kitchen island and gently searched for a card, finally finding the gold square shoved off to the left. She sighed and pulled it out, bracing herself for what she would find inside. But when she opened it, she didn't find Tony's usual scrawl on the inside. The print on the creamy white inside of the card was small and neat, but in all caps. It sloped gently, and at times didn't complete whole letters. It was familiar to her. She knew she had seen it before, but she couldn't pin where from. She skimmed the rest of the message to the name at the end, and felt her eyes widen.

_Happy?_

Pepper leaned back against the counter and tried again to read the message:

_Pep -_

_Sorry things happened the way they did. I hope they aren't getting you down much - you have a beautiful smile, you know? You should use it. Anyway, hope these brighten your day. I know they're your favorites. Give me a call, we'll get lunch or something._

_Happy_

Pepper frowned at the card, unsure what to think. It was very, very sweet of him to think of her (she didn't even know he knew things like her favorite flower), but the card sounded a little closer to flirty than friendly. Slowly, realization dawned on her, several things about their friendship making sense all at once. It made sense when she thought about it. She had never had any problems getting Happy to do things for her or with her - in fact, she distinctly remembered one occasion when she _sighed _ and he jumped up to help her.

In spite of everything, Pepper had to smile. It was cute. Unexpected, possibly not reciprocated, but cute. She put the flowers carefully into a vase and set them in the middle of her kitchen island. She had always loved fresh flowers.

Feeling marginally cheered up, she padded back into her bedroom to shower and get dressed for the day. She had an interview that afternoon (she was finding it wasn't hard for her to get them lined up), but she did have time to grab brunch.

He may not have been Tony (and she had no intentions of leading him on), but he was a friend. For that, she was eternally grateful.

* * *

"Why is it that every time I have to come and see you, your whole damn life is falling apart at the seams?"

Tony whipped around from where he was tinkering with a suit to look at the new comer. "Jesus Christ. Why is it that every time _I _see _you_ you're showing up at my house unannounced? Who the hell even let you in?"

"That's no way to greet a guest, Stark," Nick Fury said with a smirk, taking a seat in his rolling chair.

"Yeah, no, that's good, make yourself right at home," Tony muttered under his breath, tossing a screwdriver into a tool box a couple feet away from him. "Not like you weren't invited or anything."

"I invited myself," Fury told him coolly.

Tony glanced over his shoulder. "Let me ask you something, does having one eye heighten your other senses? It does for blind people. Are they half heightened?"

Fury looked back at the younger man, un-phased. "I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"I thought you guys didn't want me," Tony said a bit bitterly, sliding his hand into a metal glove and flexing his fingers, trying it out. He tapped the repulsor, frowning when it failed to light up. "Besides, I'm kinda busy."

Fury laughed. Hard.

Tony looked up slowly, torn between being offended and questioning when he gained the ability to laugh. "What? Why the hell are you laughing?"

"Busy?" Fury asked, collecting himself but still wearing an amused smile. "Busy is one word for it."

Tony closed his mouth. He bent down and grabbed a pair of pliers, going into the repulsor of the glove.

"Let's see," Fury leaned back in the chair and ticked off things on his fingers. "You save the damn city, get with your CEO, demote her to an assistant, breakup with her, and then she left you. And now you're trying to get her back. Right? Oh, and you're fighting your chauffeur for her too." He laughed more, balling his hand into a fist and tapping it lightly on the desk. "Oh, you've been a busy man indeed, Stark," he shook his head. "A busy, busy man."

Tony put the glove back on. "Director Fury, you've _got _to stop reading my diary," he quipped, pointing his palm toward the wall. The repulsor fired and hit a painting on the wall, causing it to shatter and fall to the floor.

Fury simply looked at it, unimpressed.

Tony shrugged, flexing his fingers again. "Fixed it."

Fury rolled his eye.

"Why are you here?" Tony asked, not looking at him and only half-interested, removing the glove and going back to messing with the plates on it.

"It's called the Tesseract," Fury said, watching to gauge Tony's reaction.

Tony's head snapped up, something flashing in his eyes.

Fury chuckled. "Yeah, I thought you'd heard of it."

Tony's jaw clenched. He crossed his arms. "Of course I've heard of it. My old man's name was all over the place when he pulled that thing out of the ocean. That and, you know, Captain America were pretty hot topics around the house."

Fury nodded, not surprised. The Howard Stark he had known had been very much like his son - more proud than discreet. "How much do you know about it?"

"Enough to know that whatever it is, I don't want to be involved," Tony said, attaching the glove back to the right side of the suit. "But I don't want to be involved anyway."

"It's recently come into my possession," Fury informed him with a small smile. "And it's capable of so much more than your father ever imagined."

"Yeah, that's great," Tony said dismissively, wiping his hands on a rag and making his way to the bar. Figuring he should be polite, he poured two glasses of scotch, walked over, and set one down in front of Fury. He sipped his and stared evenly back at him.

Fury waited

Tony cleared his throat. "Look, Popeye, it's great that you're all excited about your spinach there, but if you think that I'm going to tell you anything about it, you're out of luck."

"I don't need you to look at it," Fury said with a shrug. "That's not why I'm here."

Tony set down his drink on the platform with the suit and rubbed his forehead. "Then what? What is it? Why are you here?"

Fury picked up his glass for the first time and took a sip, looking appreciative. "Good stuff," he said quietly, looking at his glass.

Tony nodded and waved a hand, wishing he'd cut to the chase. The alcohol in this case wasn't meant to send a signal to Fury that he was buying into what he was saying. It was meant as a bribe to spit it out and then get the hell out.

"The Tesseract is Asgardian in origin," Fury told him, setting the drink down again. He folded his hands and leaned forward. "And there are two sides to the coin."

Tony eyed him dubiously. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, the Tesseract is a set of doors. One of them opens here."

"And the other one?"

Fury simply raised his eyebrows. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Tony took a rather large sip from his glass. "See that? Right there. You say that, and I don't want to be involved."

"As of right now, you're not," Fury said, sitting back again. He was always perfectly in control. "But it may not stay that way for long."

"I've got better things to do," Tony leaned back against the platform, crossing his arms again.

"Won't be your choice," Fury replied, un-amused. He drained his glass and stood. "Just watch your back, that's all I came to say. If things get hairy, we won't hesitate to pull you in. If this thing turns out the way it's looking...we'll need you."

"And just who is 'we'?" Tony asked, challenging him. He wasn't about to get roped into anything. Not right now.

Fury gave him a cryptic grin. "You'll just have to wait and see, Stark. You'll have to wait and see."

"I'm not S.H.I.E.L.D's prostitute, Fury. I'm not available at your beck and call," Tony called after him.

And then he was gone.

Tony rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. He really didn't need this right now. Not on top of everything else. He was still trying to come up with the next part of his plan to win Pepper back and keep his company afloat at the same time.

Mostly the Pepper thing.

Tony needed to _think_. Not just anything was going to get her back this time. He was going above and beyond anything he had ever done before to make up with her, and nothing was working. There was something he was missing - and it wasn't going to come to him easily. He tried to think of the situation in mechanics. To dissect it, turn it upside down, take it apart, and put it back together, and see what he had then. But he still saw the same things he did before. Pepper hated him, Happy was moving in, and he was out of moves.

Tony sighed. This was going to be a very long night.

* * *

**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Asdfghjkl? I am so sorry this went so long without being updated?! School is kicking my whole entire ass right now with the work load. I'm trying, folks. Your continued love is just the best thing ever, and I love you all. Hugs for you.**

**In which Tony has a couple of realizations, and Happy is Pepper's only friend.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Tony stared at a hologram, all the lights in his lab off, frowning. He spun it, watching the ice blue cube twirl on its corner. He squinted at it, and then balanced the image on his palm. "Alright, dad, what the hell?" he muttered to himself. He knew it was powerful - his dad hadn't died without beating that little gem of knowledge into his tiny skull - but he had no idea why Fury was so enchanted by it _now_.

The Tesseract had been one of his father's favorite topics. In fact, it had pretty much been the only portion of his dad's work that Tony knew about. The Tesseract and Captain America. As self-centered as he was, Tony was quickly learning that Howard Stark had more than a few skeletons in his closet.

And Pepper said _he_ had his share of secrets.

Tony blew up the model of the Tesseract, but the inside was a jumble of meaningless lines and spaces. It didn't look like anything he had ever seen before. For something that sounded and looked so much like his own arc reactor, there didn't seem to be much tech to it at all.

Tony shrank it down again by curling his hand, and put it back where it was before, circling it.

A set of doors?

Tony sighed and crossed his arms, frustrated. He felt like he was banging his head against a brick wall, and it only made him want to figure it out more. If this thing had the potential to be a set of doors, then Howard had either seriously underestimated it, or had intentionally downplayed it's power. He figured the latter was more likely - and less surprising.

It wasn't a shock to Tony at that point, really. It was no weirder than finding out his dad was a founder of SHIELD. No stranger than discovering Fury was close to him, or receiving a case of things that he had set aside for him. Not possibly odder than hearing his dad call him his "greatest creation" on a tape that was in said case, or picking up on the fact that the diagram from his dad's last Stark Expo was a map for the element that would save his life. If all that could happen, then he figured this stupid cube could be doors too.

Why the hell not?

"Asgard," Tony muttered, realizing he didn't actually know much about it other than it was a planet. "Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S, what can you tell me about this place?"

"_Asgard is a planet ruled by gods,_" the AI responded. "_Their main god is Odin and his wife Gaea. They have two children who are the demi-gods of the planet. Thor and Loki." _A diagram of the planet and pictures of the gods and demi-gods appeared in front of him.

"Loki?" Tony echoed, scoffing. "What the hell kind of name is that?"

"_It is not Asgardian in nature, sir," _J.A.R.V.I.S informed him. "_He appears to be adopted._"

"Rhetorical question," Tony murmured, studying Loki's picture. "Although I'd buy the adopted thing. Dude looks like he has the potential for some serious daddy issues." He tapped the picture, blowing it up. "Who where's a hat with horns? I mean really."

"_Sir, he is currently very angry, and is believed to be dangerous. Interactions with the Tesseract cou-"_

"Mute," Tony said over the top of him, silencing the voice. "Sorry, J.A.R.V.I.S, but that's not really what I'm interested in right now." He minimized Loki's picture again, spinning the world of Asgard. "Not even getting that involved," he said almost to himself, slightly defensively. "I was just curious, that's all."

Tony grabbed his water bottle - filled with water, for once - and took a swig. He sighed through his nose and shook his head. He knew he should quit now and walk away - he couldn't stand to give Fury the satisfaction of knowing that he even looked into this stupid thing -but there was a feeling nagging in the pit of his stomach that something big was about to happen. And he couldn't shake it. He drummed his fingers lightly, looking at the cube and the planet spinning next to each other. "Alright...what the hell is it powered by?"

There was a pause as the AI hesitated. "_The cube appears to be powered by magic, sir._"

"Magic," Tony echoed incredulously. He rubbed a hand along his hairline. "Yeah, no, sure. Magic. Because if aliens can exist, I guess that can too." He took the planet and model of the Tesseract, crumpled them up, and shot them into a digital wastebasket. He was _not_ getting involved in that. Just because his dad shoved his nose into it didn't mean he had to.

Besides, Tony had bigger things to worry about. Better things to do. "Lights on," he said, blinking rapidly to get his eyes adjusted as J.A.R.V.I.S responded to his command. He shrank the computer interface and picked up his nano ball, shoving it in his pocket. He wandered around the lab for a moment before sinking down in his rolling chair at his desk in thought. He swiveled in it, turning to look out the wall of windows behind him. Below, the ocean ebbed and flowed, crashing up on his stretch of private beach. The sun glimmered off of the water. All previous thoughts of the Tesseract, replaced by one sudden, overpowering one.

It was Pepper's favorite view in the whole place.

Tony was caught off-guard by the thought, not expecting such a small detail to hit him so hard. Every time she came down to tell him something, get him to sign a paper, or even just stop by for a visit, he'd catch her eyes straying out the window. There was one occasion when he came down and she was already there, standing in front of them, staring.

Tony stood and walked to the window wall just as she had that day and shoved his hands in his pockets. He needed to come up with a new plan. He'd never been this stuck before. Every plot he came up with had some fatal flaw that made it impossible to implement. It would make her angrier, or he couldn't get the right things lined up, or someone was standing in the way. He invented a new _element_. Easily. So why the hell couldn't he figure this out?

Possibly because, he mused, Pepper didn't have parts. She couldn't be synthesized, or taken apart, or inspected under a microscope. She didn't run on batteries. She had even _told_ him that.

Tony's stomach churned at the memory. Them sitting on the plane, him practically begging her to go somewhere with him, her telling him that it wasn't a good time. He had said they needed to recharge their batteries, and then she had looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Not everyone runs on batteries, Tony."

He blinked. She had made it sound so significant, but at the time he hadn't thought much of it. He had other things on his mind. He shifted his jaw, thinking.

When Tony called Pepper, one of the things she had told him was, "You are so smart, Tony. A genius. But you are _clueless_ when it comes to dealing with real, live people, who aren't rechargeable."

Could it really be that simple?

Tony was missing something, that much was obvious. He'd dissected and reassembled the situation more times than he could count. He'd turned it over, and over, and over, and tried to analyze it. Could it be that the solution to his problem - or the start thereof - was that he wasn't looking at her like a _human_?

Tony certainly _thought_ he had been. But he supposed it was possible that she was right, and he really was clueless. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. He was trying too hard to break apart the situation. He was too zoomed in.

A smile slowly started to form on Tony's face as an idea began to do the same thing in his mind. "J.A.R.V.I.S," he said turning around, throwing his nano ball back on his desk and staring at the interface. He sat down in his chair and leaned back. "Tell me everything you can about Pepper. Even the things I know. I want it all."

* * *

"Pepper," Happy beamed at her when she arrived at their table, standing up to greet her. "You look beautiful."

"Oh, thank you, Happy," she said, smiling back at him. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, and then patted his arm before taking a seat. It wasn't awkward, she had that much to be thankful for. She and Happy had gotten lunch, brunch, and dinner plenty of times before. This was no different.

Or at least, it was _technically_ no different. But it almost felt like it to Pepper. The reason for meeting up had just been to see each other, they had agreed on their usual place, they joked about penciling each other in...just like every other time. But there was a new, oddly electric undercurrent to the whole thing - created solely by an overly flirtatious card in a bouquet.

"So, how have you been?" Happy asked, taking a sip of the coffee he'd already ordered, his eyes never leaving hers as he spoke. He'd always been good about that. Actually paying attention to her. Their friendship had always been one of equals - everything was a two way street.

"I've been...okay," Pepper said honestly with an accompanying shrug. "Just adjusting, you know." She tightened her ponytail a bit self-consciously. "Things are different now. But I guess they aren't necessarily bad."

Happy nodded understandingly, even though Pepper knew he hadn't had to look for a job in at least twenty years. Tony had hired him right out of the ring, and he'd been pretty young then. "You get any job offers yet?"

Pepper laughed lightly and lowered her voice, "More than I know what do do with," she admitted. It felt like bragging, and she didn't care to have the whole restaurant knowing about it. She shook her head. "I'm getting at least three a day."

Happy raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle. "Damn. For PA's?"

Pepper shook her head, biting her lip. "CEO's," she said, smiling a bit excitedly. "Apparently my stint at SI - however brief it might have been - turned a few heads. I've gotten letters that said things like 'if you can keep Stark Industries afloat, then this job will be a breeze'. It's strange."

Happy smiled warmly at her. "Well, I know I was impressed. I'm not surprised other people were too. You kicked ass, Pep."

Pepper felt heat creep up her neck, flushing her cheeks a bit. Not because of the person in question, but because of the praise. She never really did learn how to handle direct compliments very well. "Thank you," she said, taking a sip of her water. "That's very sweet of you to say."

"Hey, just the truth," Happy told her. "And if you don't like any of your current options, I hear Hammer Industries is looking for a new CEO," he suggested jokingly, winking at her.

Pepper laughed a bit, but her face grew serious.

The smile slid off of Happy's face as he watched her begin to consider it as an option. "P-Pep? I...I was...kidding..."

"No, no, I know," Pepper said quickly. "I'm just thinking...if I went to work for Hammer Industries, I could control the patents on the tech that they stole from SI...and if I used the company to link up with SI, we could monopolize weapons manufacturing _and_ clean energy..."

Happy blinked at her. "Wow...yeah. I mean, that's a good point. I didn't even think of that."

Pepper thought for a moment and then glanced at him. "You think I should apply? I mean, I don't really have any loyalties to SI anymore but..."

"_But_ nothing. Of course you should apply," Happy said earnestly. "Ideas like that? You'd make both of those companies unstoppable."

Pepper's face darkened slightly. "I'd have to deal with him..." she trailed off. She didn't need to say his name. They both knew.

"Not necessarily," Happy pointed out. "He's working on finding a new CEO, and he's made it clear that it won't be him. You'd work with whoever gets the gig."

Pepper nodded slowly, stirring her straw in her drink. "True," she murmured. She pushed down an ice cube and then shot him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, look at me. I'm not even employed right now and I still can't stop talking about work."

"You're fine," Happy assured her. He put his hand lightly over her free one for a moment. No longer than comfortable for both of them. "We can talk about whatever."

"Well, let's talk about how you've been, then," Pepper insisted, the hand that he touched now feeling awkward lying on the table. She was suddenly very unsure of where to put it. What did people even do with their hands while they were at restaurants?

"Uh, I've been good. Same things as usual," Happy went for a nonchalant shrug. "A little...tenser, but that's about it. No you, obviously."

"Tenser?" Pepper echoed, eyebrows knit. "How so?"

"Ah," Happy rubbed the back of his head, pausing his story as the waitress came by and poured a cup of coffee, handing it to Pepper, and refilling his. "The boss and I are having a bit of a...disagreement."

"Believe me. I know all about disagreements with that man," Pepper said with a humorless half-laugh. "What's going on?"

"The other day..." Happy hesitated. "Well, he wanted me to drive him to your house. He said he wanted to make things right or something...and I told him that I would drive him anywhere but there. That I didn't want to disturb your peace, you know? He got...a little pissed."

Pepper felt something inside her melt with tenderness for the man in front of her. "You tried to protect me," she said, a small smile on her face.

Happy shrugged, smiling bashfully. "I didn't want him bothering you," he muttered.

"That's...that's too sweet of you," Pepper told him. She silently poured cream and sugar into her coffee and stirred for a moment, tapping the stir stick lightly on the rip of her mug and setting it on the saucer. "He came anyway," she told him softly, looking out the window. "He took the Audi. The silver one, not the black one."

Happy processed that, and then nodded. "What happened?"

"He tried to get me to come back. Offered to build me a new office," Pepper sighed lightly. "He said he wanted to fix things, and then said he wanted me back as a friend too. He said he missed me, and swore we could get through it." She glanced back at him and then returned to the window. "You know how he is. He'll move mountains to get you everything except what you really want. I wound up telling him to leave me alone."

Happy frowned. "I'm really sorry. That's exactly what I wanted to prevent. Guess I should have known he'd take a different car..."

Pepper waved a hand. "He probably would have taken the suit if he didn't do that," she said, not knowing how close he came. "Can't blame yourself. He always finds a way."

"Fair enough," Happy said. The waitress came back and they placed their respective orders, lapsing into easy conversation after.

They talked about the weather, and the food, and current events. For a while, they discussed new business mergers, and then they moved on to sports (or what Pepper knew of sports). They stayed long after they finished their meals, drinking coffee and talking about everything that they could think of.

When Pepper finally parted ways, she felt better than she had in the two weeks since she resigned from Stark Industries. It felt good to reconnect with someone from her old place in the world. It made her feel less alone. She got in her car and went to run errands, finally feeling up to it - thanks to the confidence of a friend. An ally.

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**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**You know the shpeal. School is killing me, love you all, love your reviews too. You make my day in so many ways.**

**Chapter dedication to xRDJ603 for redirecting my attention to this story and leaving me the most fabulous reviews. **

**In which Pepper takes a strategic job offer, and Tony gets the wrong idea.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Pepper Potts felt like a traitor.

A dirty, low, person participating in a dangerous game of corporate espionage.

Which, of course, she wasn't. Not really. Technically, she had no ties. Technically, she was a free, unemployed agent. Technically, she shouldn't have had any reason to feel guilty. Not in the slightest.

But as Pepper made her way through the sparkling halls of Hammer Industries, she didn't feel like any of those things were true at all. Instead, she felt like a traitor. Stark Industries had been her home for twelve years. To turn around and snatch up Hammer's company instead? It made her feel a little sick. She steeled herself, issued a firm reminder of why she was doing this, and walked up to the receptionist's desk to let her know she was here for her interview.

The receptionist stopped typing as she approached, looking up at her with wide brown eyes. "M-Ms. Potts?" she squeaked out. "Can...Can I help you?"

Pepper's brow furrowed a bit as she looked at the younger woman. People at HI knew her? "I'm here for my ten o'clock interview?" she said coolly, raising one eyebrow a bit.

That stumped her. She opened and closed her mouth and said, "You're...I mean...I didn't know that..."

Pepper raised her eyebrow higher.

"Yes, ma'am. Of course. I'll let them know you're here," she got out finally, picking up the phone hastily and dialing in.

Pepper gave her a nod and a smile, hoping to put the poor thing at ease. She took a seat in one of the wooden chairs in the room, beginning to get uneasy. She wasn't sure how to process the information that she was - apparently - an intimidating person over there. At SI, she had been a force, for sure, but people didn't stammer when they met her. She was fairly certain she saw that young woman's life flash before her eyes. An odd sense of satisfaction filled her. Under her command, SI had won the battle. However, she quickly squashed that back down when she once again reminded herself that she no longer had any allegiance to the company.

Twelve years is a long time.

That was the thought on Pepper's mind as the receptionist informed her that they were ready for her. She held it in her mind as she carefully turned the cool metal knob on the frosted glass door, and entered. The office was just like the rest of the building. Clean and cold. Stylized almost to the point of absurdity. There wasn't a trace of personality anywhere. No pictures. No paper. No fabric.

The interviewer misinterpreted her taking in of the room as approval and said, "Nice, isn't it?"

Pepper looked at her and gave a polite nod.

"Please, take a seat."

Pepper did so. She noted that the metal chair was cold against the part of her legs that stuck out of her skirt. She did her best to keep it off of her face.

"Could be yours, soon," the interviewer said quietly with a wink. She was just a bit older than Pepper and had brown, bobbed hair. Her green eyes sparkled from behind her reading glasses, which she peered at Pepper over the top of. She pulled her mint green blazer tighter around her, causing the bangles on her wrist to clank. She had a very large diamond engagement ring on her left hand, secured by a wedding band with more diamonds still.

Pepper made the notation in her head that it was painfully obvious that the woman was new to wealth.

The woman pushed her hands together and leaned forward, her a heady mixture of friendly and excited. "So, you must be the famous Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, yes?" she laughed a bit at the nickname. "I'm Jill Karsnican, but don't worry about the last name. Just Jill, okay."

Pepper nodded professionally. She wasn't buying this whole _let's be friends_ thing. "Nice to meet you, Jill."

"Oh no, Virginia," Jill said. "It's nice to meet _you_." She hit a few keys and Pepper's resume popped up...on the desk. Underneath the glass.

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Typical Hammer, to make _everything_ digital. It seemed over -the top.

"I've heard wonderful things about you," Jill informed her, sending her a warm smile. "From secretary, to personal assistant...to CEO. If I may be frank, there were quite a few people who thought you couldn't do it."

Pepper smiled ruefully. "So I heard. I assure you, no one was more shocked than me when I heard my own name on Bill O'Reilly's show."

Jill laughed. "He did dig into you quite a bit, I recall that," she shook her head, as if they were old friends reminiscing. "But, after that, you were quite the talk of the town. You still are. You took a struggling, drowning company with a scatterbrained alcoholic for an owner, and you restored it to it's former glory." She paused, looking at Pepper seriously. "No small feat," she added, a bit quieter.

Pepper gave another crisp nod. Acknowledgement and appreciation. But she hadn't come there to brag on herself.

"So humble," Jill murmured approvingly. "Which is why, Virginia," she continued at her normal volume. "This?" she gestured to the resume. "We don't need this." She gave a swipe of her hand and the resume disappeared. "I know enough about you already to know that you are exactly the woman we are looking for."

Pepper couldn't help the way her eyes narrowed a bit. "You do?" she asked skeptically. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I do," Jill's smile grew wider still.

Pepper was certain her face was going to crack.

"You see, we at Hammer Industries have been watching your career closely for quite some time. We have always said that as a company, should you grow tired with the Stark Industries three ring circus, you could find solace here. Where your true potential could be achieved," Jill leaned forward again, folding her hands on the desk. "We've always seen what you're capable of. We waited, patiently, for the day when you would leave our friends at SI. And now...here you are."

"Here I am," Pepper echoed, trying to process quickly. What was the end game here?

Jill stood and crossed the room, pouring herself a glass of water. She held the pitcher out to Pepper, and then sat it back down when she declined. "For quite a while now, there's been whispers about you throughout the market. Your name has come up in the boardroom, in conversations with other CEO's, hell, even at luncheons. And they're always saying the same thing. Do you know what that was?"

"No," Pepper said carefully, giving away as little as she could. Her suspicions were heightening by the second.

"They said, Virginia, that Mr. Stark kept his most volatile weapon to himself, not to be released to the mass market, or even to the military. Stark Industries secret weapon...was you," she took her seat again, taking a sip of water. "I'll bet you Stark never told you that one, did he?"

Pepper watched her dubiously, electing not to respond.

Jill laughed a bit. "Oh, I'm not asking you to bad mouth your old company, or your old boss! I'm simply telling you things that I think you should know. Your loyalty is admirable. Which is why this 'interview'," she hooked air quotes around the word. "Isn't even that. It's a meeting. A sales pitch, even. This is Hammer Industries officially offering you the position of CEO, and us trying to persuade you to bring your enormous wealth of talent and your discerning skill set to us. Where you can focus on what you do best, with no...distractions." She chose her words carefully, but her meaning was clear.

"And if I accept?" Pepper asked without hesitation. She wanted to throw this lady off her game.

"Then you get the best we have to offer. This office, a ten thousand dollar raise, full control of Hammer Industries full benefits, one third of the company, and stocks in your name," Jill replied, not missing a beat. "And it becomes your privilege to lead this company on. However...I must ask just one question."

_Here we go_. Pepper mentally braced herself. "Be my guest."

"Why _did_ you leave Stark Industries?" Jill asked, tilting her head in such a way that she almost came across as condescending.

_None of your damn business._ "I felt it was time to expand my professional horizons," she explained. "Reach my full potential, as you said."

Jill grinned at her. "Delightful," she told her. "It's always wonderful when young, enthusiastic women like you realize they're capable of more. You won't regret this, Virginia." She held out her hand. "Will you come on with us?"

_See, Tony? 'Professional horizons' does make sense. _Pepper hesitated, and then stuck out her hand and shook Jill's firmly. "I will."

"Fabulous," Jill said, her grin growing wider. "We'd like you to start Monday. I realize it's only two days away, but I do hope you understand the bind we're in."

"Of course," Pepper said, giving her an emotionless, small smile. "I'll be here."

"Fabulous, fabulous," Jill repeated. "I'll have my receptionist email you the paperwork."

Pepper nodded, stood, said her goodbyes, and left. Her heels clicked in the empty hallway, and and she let out a long breath, feeling as though she had just made a deal with the devil.

* * *

The next day, it was all over the news.

Not that Tony paid any attention to the news, of course. Even as it hit that Virginia Potts had switched teams and was going to work for Hammer Industries as their CEO, effective immediately, he was left blissfully unaware. It turned the heads of everyone in the country. Businessmen and women called it a harbinger. Everyone seemed very sure of one thing and one thing only - the imminent fireworks show between the two companies was going to be big, loud, and spectacular.

But for the majority of the morning, Tony had no idea. He went through things as he always did. He woke up late, neglected breakfast, and headed down to the shop. He monitored his vitals to make sure that the new, modified reactor core was operating properly, and then he would find something to work on. Half the time, he found himself puzzling over Pepper. He still hadn't given up. Far from it. But he also found himself stuck, spinning his wheels as he tried to grasp what it was that she wanted him to do. Not infrequently, he found himself staring at the Tesseract, too, a sinking feeling in his gut.

But that morning, he had elected to take a break from things that seemed to be beyond him (for the time being, at least). He was toying with the idea of bracelets that could somehow contain a suit. He had just started to draw out the beginning sketches for them when J.A.R.V.I.S interrupted him.

"_Sir?_" the AI asked hesitantly. "_Did you still wish me to tell you things about Ms. Potts that you were not aware of?_"

Tony's head snapped up just as he was sketching the curve of a chest plate, trying to figure out how it would have to bend. He blinked a few times, trying to get his mind to switch over and process what he was being asked. "Ah...yeah," he said, setting his pencil down. "Yeah, yes, go ahead." It began to occur to him that he hadn't sounded happy when he asked. Did that mean something bad had happened? His stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought.

"_It has come to my attention that Ms. Potts has taken a new position at another company,_" J.A.R.V.I.S told him in a businesslike tone. "_As a CEO._"

Now he really had Tony's attention. "Okay," he said slowly, a crease forming at his brow. "Why do I get the feeling that you're about to tell me something bad?" When the AI was silent, he asked, "Where _at_, J.A.R.V.I.S?"

There was a pause, and then, "_Hammer Industries, sir._"

Tony's jaw damn near hit the floor. "H-Hammer? I'm sorry, did you just tell me that she took over for _Hammer_?" As the disbelief faded, it began to morph into anger. "Hammer?" he said again, standing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "As in, the same company that stole my technology, my suits, and tried to turn them into militarized weapons? The..." he trailed off, his anger cutting off his words. Tony's breathing began to pick up and he went to pour himself a drink.

Instead of informing him further, J.A.R.V.I.S elected to put the coverage up on a screen behind him.

Tony turned slowly as he watched Pepper - _his Pepper_ - make her way out of Hammer Industries, head down, avoiding paparazzi like the pro he'd turned her into. He felt an ugly snarl start to form on his lips, and he took a rather large "sip" of his drink. The concern that he felt previously was now gone, with no trace of it left. Instead there was anger. Anger, disbelief, hurt and - though he'd never even admit it to _himself_ - heartbreak. He took another gulp, savoring the way it burned in his throat.

Tony fought the urge to hurl the glass at the wall, but the part of him that remained in touch with sanity told him not to. Reminded him that she wasn't there to see his little fit. That it He was a hologram screen, so it wouldn't even break the image. It'd just break his favorite glass. That was it. It wouldn't bring her back. Wouldn't make what he was seeing any less true. He slammed his glass down on the table a little forcefully, amber liquid sloshing over the top.

"Fine," Tony growled at the TV, pushed to his breaking point. "I didn't want to date you, so you switched to my fucking rival company? Fine. Great." He held up the glass to the television in a sardonic toast. "But I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into, Ms. Potts. Two can play at that game." He downed the rest and turned off the TV, going back to his suit bracelets.

He sighed heavily, tapping his finger on the table. "Thought you were different," he muttered quietly. "Been wrong before."

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	8. Chapter 8

**I'm so sorry this one is short. This is only Pepper's half of the chapter I was writing, but I've had this written for a week and I haven't gotten around to Tony's half, so I figured I'd just give it to you guys. Ta da. **

**In which Pepper realizes that sometimes the best plots are the simplest.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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"Ms. Potts?"

Pepper looked up in the direction of the timid voice. Her receptionist - the same one that let her in for her interview the one that was _still_ terrified of her - had poked her head into her office and was looking at her with apprehension in her big brown eyes. "Yes, Mary?"

"Um," Mary began, searching for the right words, as always. "I'm heading out."

"Oh," Pepper said, blinking as she looked around. She hadn't even noticed it had gotten dark outside. "What time is it?" she asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"Um," Mary said again, checking her watch. "Ten, ma'am."

Pepper's eyes widened. "Ten? Already?" She looked at her clock as if she didn't believe the young woman. Sure enough, the slim silver hands on the utilitarian clock told the same story. "Jesus..."

Mary shifted in the doorway, looking unsure. "Is...is there anything you need? Before I leave?" It was obvious that she wanted to get out of there. Right then.

"No, no, I'm good," Pepper told her softly. "Thank you, Mary. Have a good rest of the night."

Mary gave her a small smile and departed, shutting the door with a quiet click.

Pepper stood up and walked around her new office. She had been there a week already, and she was just starting to settle in...but she was quickly recalling exactly why she tried to resign from the job when she was with Stark Industries. That night marked the third time she had been in the office late into the night, far past the time when everyone else left.

It was also Wednesday.

Pepper stretched as she walked, attempting to convince her body that it didn't really need to go to sleep. The exhaustion was almost overwhelming. She had gotten a total of six hours of sleep the past four nights - one of which was an all nighter. But it wasn't the lack of sleep that she really had a problem with. That she could handle. That she had been dealing with since the beginning of her twelve years with Tony. He once called her a sleep camel.

No, the worst part to her was the place itself. She felt like she was going crazy. Everything looked the same there. There wasn't a spec of personality to be found on anything. Everything, _everything_ was lean, clean, utilitarian, and sparkling. Metal and tech and gleaming surfaces. She had to observe that the way the company _looked_ very much reflected the company _itself_ post-Hammer. It stood for nothing. There were no goals to be achieved, no precedents to set.

Granted, there were, Pepper supposed, certain perks to the incarceration of the former owner of the company. The first of which being that he couldn't make good on his empty threats to her as the NYPD hauled him out of the Expo. The second being that it made it _that much easier_ for Pepper to reach her true goals with the company. The third being that, as CEO, she had full control of the company - she stood at the wheel of the ship that was Hammer Industries.

And it was the direction of that ship that had had Pepper's attentions for the previous days and nights. She poured over every document that HI had. Financial records, stocks, new tech reports, old tech reports, company statements, press releases, current clients..._everything_. Anything that she could get her hands on, she read. All with one purpose and one purpose only in mind: the merger. She spent countless hours searching, digging, pawing through file after file looking for a reason that she could use to justify it to the press. Something that didn't make it look like HI collapsed after the Drone Incident and rolled over to Stark Industries.

No, for this to work, Pepper needed the company's reputation intact. Or what was left of it, anyway. She had already made strides in that field. Making very public meetings with generals and senators to renegotiate the deals they were in with the company. In just a week and a half, she had managed to make herself the figurehead of the company. Giving off the illusion that HI was very much under control.

Which it was. Just not in the same way people thought.

It was strategic. All of it. A big game of chess that Pepper was playing oh-so-carefully. When anyone asked why she was looking back through the backlogs? Familiarizing herself with past company failures and successes to better grasp the manner in which the new deals needed to be handled. From time to time, when someone mentioned the very name Stark she would roll her eyes, giving off the impression that he and his company were nothing more to her but nuisances. She cracked out more new deals worth more money in her first week and a half than Justin Hammer himself did within a year. She gave the people at HI good reason to believe that her allegiance had shifted. That she now was on their side.

But Pepper's loyalties remained where they always had. With the tall glass building a couple miles away with _his_ last name emblazoned on the side in big, glowing, arc-reactor-blue letters.

And it was those loyalties that drove her to the point where she was getting two hours of sleep a night, reading through the awful reports of the company, striking deals that were against her morally to earn these people's trust. So that she could stand up at a press conference and announce that Stark Industries and Hammer Industries were merging. So that together, they could have not one, but two markets completely cornered. So that they didn't have to worry about anything like the Drone Incident ever happening again. It was fool proof. She hoped.

Pepper got out a bottle of water from the mini fridge and felt herself freeze as she began to open it.

The Drone Incident.

Could it really be that simple?

Pepper screwed back on the top and took it with her, setting it down as she reclaimed her seat at her desk, searching through files for the Incident Report. It had been the first thing she looked at. But she had tossed it aside, thinking it would make her to transparent. But would it?

As she scanned through it, the thought that had started to form grew. Arc reactor tech. That was the key here. She'd stayed away from the concept out of fear that they would all see through her the second she mentioned it.

But the more Pepper thought about it, the more it became the brilliant ruse that it had the potential to be. What was a better cover-up, than the truth? And what looked more loyal than confronting Tony Stark head-on, and telling him they wanted to work _with him_ on the new tech? What made her seem more like a fearless leader than salvaging what was the most damaging blemish on the company's reputation?

Pepper felt herself smile down at it as everything became clear at once.

To blend in here, she had to become completely see through. She picked up a pad of Sticky Notes on her desk, her smile growing into a self-satisfied smirk. She clicked her pen and wrote a note to Mary telling her to set up a meeting with the board of Stark Industries for tomorrow at noon. She felt safe in assuming that Tony wouldn't be there - he hadn't attended any of the Board Meetings when she worked there, and he probably wasn't going to start now.

Pepper walked out to Mary's desk and stuck the note on top of it where she was sure to see it before going back inside. She pulled out every file on the Drone Incident and arc reactor tech that HI had and got to work on a proposal for a merger that she new would appeal to each member's sense of logic. She sipped her water and sighed.

It was going to be a long night.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, this is kinda short too, but this is pivotal and needed to stand alone. I love all of you for all of your reviews as always, and I wish I had the time to reply to each and every one. Just know that every review makes my day brighter, and I do appreciate them immensely. **

**In which Tony is cruel, and Pepper declares war.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Tony sighed heavily, the sound echoing around the quiet meeting room. It'd been five minutes, and he was regretting his decision to come already. It wasn't so much that he hated discussing his company - that part he actually didn't mind - as much as it was the formality of it all. He didn't understand why they couldn't have the same discussions while dressed casually, sitting in more comfortable chairs, eating. In fact, he was convinced that that would remove the sticks that were firmly planted up the asses of some of the board members. Every initiative he had attempted to implement to that affect, however, had proved largely unsuccessful.

Tony eyed the members around the room, each of them as miserable looking as the last. He wondered, vaguely, if they had ever smiled in their lives. He did consider though that if he had to spend three days a week in these meetings, he wouldn't be the most jovial either.

Still, everything seemed rather..._mundane_. Boring. One was texting, the one was picking at her cuticles, one was staring out the window, and another looked like he was contemplating the best way to kill off the one across from him. It was all so blase. But everything had seemed like that to him since Pepper left. There was no one to piss off anymore. His life became routine and lonely.

Tony pushed the thoughts of her out of his head, taking a sip of the Scotch in front of him. He hated the pang he felt in his heart when she drifted through his mind. He hated the way his gut wrenched, and he hated the way his mood suddenly plummeted. He hated _her_. So, he pushed her back out again. He didn't need her. That had been his mantra. He didn't need her. He never had. Hell, he cured himself of heavy metal poisoning didn't he? Palladium be damned, he was still there and kicking. He even had SHIELD beating down his door. He was doing just fine - no thanks to anyone but himself.

Tony had finally managed to take his thoughts elsewhere, staring out the window when he heard the door open and close. He had already elected to ignore it when he heard an eerily familiar throat clearing that sent shivers up his spine. _Couldn't be._

"Gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to come by and talk to you today."

_Oh, but it is._ Tony looked up to find none other than Pepper Potts herself, staring back at him. He looked up into the face that used to warm his heart - or what he had left of one - and felt his blood boil. A sneer formed on his lips. "Who the hell let that in here?" he snarled out.

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him, posture remaining perfect and professional. "Excuse me?" she asked, like she hadn't heard him.

The act of feigned ignorance only served to make him angrier. His fists balled on the table, knuckles turning white. "You heard me," he spat. "See, I was under the impression that this was a _meeting_, not a presentation on the greatest traitors in history. Is Benedict Arnold around here somewhere too, or did you come alone?"

Pepper took a deep breath, hands curling around her clipboard, very obviously trying her best to keep her cool. Something flickered across her expression, but was gone in an instant. "Thank you, Mr. Stark, for that introduction," she said coolly. "But I'm afraid you've been misinformed. That meeting was moved to next week." She gave him a bittersweet smile - like she knew something he didn't.

Tony laughed coldly. "Right, right, of course. How silly of me. Seems I forget things sometimes. That was why you ran my life for me for the past...what, eleven, twelve years? I forgot how to think on my own without someone breathing down my neck, reminding me to go to this meeting or sign that paper." He was seething, practically shaking. He could feel himself losing his cool, and he couldn't bring himself to care. She had the nerve to come back around after what she did, and act like everything was peachy? No. No.

"If you don't mind, I would appreciate it if we kept this meeting professional," Pepper said, still smiling, but her tone becoming increasingly clipped and getting sharper by the second. Now there was definitely something else in her expression, but Tony couldn't tell what it was. He didn't care.

"Professional?" He echoed, eyebrows going up. "You want us to be professional now?" When he saw her nod, he started to laugh again, acting as if it were the funniest joke he had heard in a while. "She wants us to act professional now, everyone," he told the board, who were all shifting uncomfortably in their seats. "No, no, that's good. Let's talk about professionalism for a minute, shall we?" His tone changed from laughing to _pissed_ in a millisecond. "You want us to be professional? That's rich. Tell me, Potts, how _professional_ was it when you got your panties in a twist over the fact that I said we should just be friends after we kissed, and resigned over it? How _professional_ was it that you went to our rival company -"

"Tony, _stop_," Pepper tried to interject.

But Tony ignored her and continued. "_Knowing _that they had just tried to screw us over. You could have gone to any other company, but you chose Hammer's. The tool named after a tool is now your boss, well," he picked up his Scotch and held it up, rising out of his chair to a standing position. "Cheers to you, Pep. Have fun getting your paychecks signed from jail." He knocked back the rest of the drink and set it down.

"Oh, like you know anything that's going on," Pepper snapped finally, voice rising. "You don't know the half of it, so please, _stop_ acting like you do. Believe it or not, the whole world does not orbit for you and you alone."

"So, just to be clear, we're acting like you're _not_ mad because I wouldn't fuck you?" Tony said, doing everything in his power to be cruel. He knew he was taking it too far. And he could tell that she was just at her tipping point - so instead of backing off, he gave her one more shove over. "Hey, I'm sure Justin's accepting some of that kind of attention. It'd be better than the action he's getting where he is, I can tell you that much."

Pepper's jaw dropped and she gaped at him for a moment before it snapped shut again, the muscle in it visibly tensed. Her usually warm blue eyes had hardened into steel, and Tony could feel them boring back into his. "Do you have any idea what this is?" she spat, slapping down the folders she had come in with. "This," she jabbed her finger forcefully down upon it. "Is a _deal_ I came to pitch. I was going to suggest a merger. SI absorbing HI."

Tony closed his mouth. He was still beyond angry - but it was starting to ebb away into something else. Something much worse. Dread. Fear that he had just made a very large mistake. "A merger."

"That's right," Pepper said, any and all positive emotions gone from her voice. She had lowered it to a sort of deathly calm. "A merger. Revolving around arc reactor tech. Which, I might add, we still have patent rights to. Seems someone didn't sign the papers for it when they were supposed to," she gave him a nasty, smug smile. "Meaning that Hammer Industries is the legal, rightful owner of the arc reactor that's keeping your black little heart beating. We're also the only ones still in the weapons manufacturing business. Funny how things come full circle, isn't it?"

All Tony could do was stare back at her. His expression remained furious as ever, but something dangerously close to fear was building up inside him. He had no idea that she had that kind of upper hand. "So?"

"_So_, you seem to be forgetting that there is one person in the world who knows your company, this technology, and ah, even _you_ better than you do - and that person is me," Pepper picked up the merger papers and walked over to the paper shredder in the room and pushed the file through it, erasing any evidence that the proposal was ever even a thought.

Tony laughed meanly and shook his head. "And you expect something as pathetic as Hammer Tech to take down a giant like this place? Must be dumber than you look."

But Pepper just continued to smile at him, hate in her eyes. She planted her hands on the table and leaned in, eyes locking with his again. "Empires fall in a day, Stark," she reminded him, voice low and icy. "And if it's a war that you want, then you better bet your ass it's a war you're going to get." And with that, she stormed out of the room.

Tony sank back in his chair, trying to catch his breath. He swallowed hard and rubbed at his hairline, sure that he had just made rather large and costly mistake.

* * *

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**HEY. So, I'm back. It's officially summer now, so I have time to devote to this story. Thank you all so much for being so patient with me. I appreciate it so much. Here's a huge chapter. Just for you.**

**Shout out to LG for reading this and encouraging me to continue. You are my biggest supporter. Also, to the two of you who threw out a certain idea in your review of last chapter, you'll see that vindicated. (; I couldn't resist incorporating it.**

**In which Rhodey is Pepper's friend too, and a mistake is made. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The next day Pepper woke up feeling more exhausted than when she went to sleep. It wasn't a kind of tired that she was used to. It was...emotional. All encompassing. She felt drained. She laid in bed and stared at the ceiling in the dark for an extra ten minutes, not quite being able to bring about the spirit she needed to get up. Eventually though, she did anyway, reminding herself that there were surely plenty of people out there who felt as she did, and the world didn't stop for them, either. She had a company to run. Deals to make. Meetings to attend.

It sounded so much less glamorous than it had two weeks ago. Than it had with Stark Industries. It had started out seeming so noble, so exciting. CEO. Big title. Big job. And to be in a field that had so much potential to _help_ if gone about correctly. It seemed...heroic. But by then, all of that had faded away. Leaving in it's place apathy, exhaustion, and a burnt out Pepper Potts.

Pepper flipped on the light and blinked rapidly to get her eyes to adjust, feeling sick to her stomach. Lately, she'd carried a sense of dread with her, so powerful that it made her nauseous. She couldn't quite put her finger on the source of it. She wasn't one to say that being apart from Tony was doing it, and she was certain that while she had never _hated_ a job before, that wasn't the reaction one received from that. No, it was something else entirely. She just couldn't say what.

She got ready quickly, only bothering with what was necessary to make herself look presentable. She figured there wasn't really a point anymore. Not only did she stay in her office all day when she didn't have a function, but - admittedly - there was no one to look exceptionally good for anymore. Not that she had ever gone above and beyond for Tony, but it was the difference between a skirt and pants, one hairstyle or the other, taking the time to put concealer on the dark circles under her eyes. Now she wore the pants, threw her hair into a bun, and wore her circles like war paint. It didn't matter anymore.

Pepper was emerging from the bathroom when her eyes landed on a picture of the two of them on her nightstand. She hadn't been able to take it down right after she resigned. She had held out hope. The most optimistic part of her had told her that he'd realize that if he just _apologized_ they'd be a whole lot closer to fixing everything. But he never had. He'd offered her a new office, he'd offered her a raise, but he'd never done the first thing that most people would have done. Because he wasn't sorry. Not in the slightest. He'd proven that to her yesterday.

_"So, just to be clear, we're acting like you're not mad because I wouldn't fuck you?" _

The words rang through Pepper's head as she walked over to the picture and picked it up with shaking fingers. Carefully, she slid out the back of the frame and took out the picture, turning it over in her hands. It was a cute picture. One of her favorites. He had his arms locked around her and was pressing a kiss to her temple, and she was laughing, making a face, trying to push him away. They looked so...happy. Just to be next to each other. So much like a couple. They hadn't been, of course. She had been joking to someone that he didn't appreciate her, and he had stated that he would show her he appreciated her and then opened his arms. She had refused, blushed, told him that wouldn't been necessary. When she tried to walk away he'd followed her, arms still wide open, before capturing her finally like that. She was pretty sure Rhodey had been the one who took the picture. She couldn't even really remember how she got her hands on a copy. But once she found it in her drawer a few years later, she'd framed it immediately and kept it at home.

Pepper shook her head, thinking about how different the Tony she knew then and the Tony she saw yesterday were. She put her fingers on either corner of the picture, let out a long breath, and then ripped it in half. And then those in half. And then in half again. She thought it would make her feel better - symbolically shredding the memory of him. Erasing him from her life. Putting him in her rear-view mirror, so to speak. But instead she just felt like she was ripping up her heart, too.

She tossed the pieces into the trash and stood up, rubbing her forehead. She slipped on her shoes waiting at the foot of her bed, grabbed her phone, and moved downstairs into the kitchen, turning on her coffee maker with a yawn. She stared at Happy's flowers on the table and thought they looked a little wilt-y, and could use some water. She filled up the vase with a little more water and set them back down in their previous place. She didn't realize it, but she was on autopilot. Something she hadn't had the chance to be in over a decade.

Twelve years, to be exact.

Her BlackBerry rang on the counter, pulling her out of her thoughts, and Pepper quickly grabbed it. She furrowed her eyebrows at the caller ID, completely perplexed by the name she saw. She hit the green "accept call" button, and raised the phone to her head, hesitating before answering with a cautious, "Hello?"

"Ah, hey, Pepper," Rhodey's voice floated through the phone. He sounded just as unsure as he did.

"Rhodey," Pepper said, even though she already knew exactly who it was. She was trying to wrap her head around it, but it wasn't working out for her. They had spoken on the phone plenty of time, but for some reason it seemed that now that Tony was out of the picture he was out of context. "Um...hey. Hi. What can I do for you?"

The question seemed to stump Rhodey. There was a pause, and than an awkward, "Ah..." and then a throat clearing.

Pepper waited, eyebrows raised.

"Well," he began again. "I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a drink or something tonight? Catch up? I haven't really seen you since..."

_Since the kiss._Pepper was silently grateful to him for not saying it out loud. She had to smile at the offer. Since she'd resigned, she'd felt cut off from everyone except for Happy. And while Rhodey was technically Tony's best friend, they had developed a friendship of their own. An alliance, even. United on the front of bettering Tony for the greater good - or at least keeping him from choking on his own vomit when he got too wasted. The fact that he had reached out to her touched her. "Yeah, I...I'd like that."

"Okay," Rhodey breathed out. He sounded relieved. In truth, he had been expecting her to lash out at him too, for being so close to Tony. "Great. What time do you get off? I can meet you somewhere, if that's easiest."

"Yeah...it probably would be...um..." Pepper thought about his question, realizing she didn't really know the answer. "Six, I think."

Rhodey chuckled, the awkwardness of their conversation fading away, leaving their usual friendly conversation in its place. "You don't know?"

Pepper laughed lightly along with him, shaking her head. "To be honest with you, I really don't. I haven't exactly been leaving there on time for the couple weeks I've been there." She saw her coffee had finished brewing, so she cradled her phone between her ear and her shoulder, poured the steaming liquid into her thermos and screwed on the lid tightly. She picked up her work bag and hoisted it onto her shoulder. "I'm sure six is fine, though. Especially with all the over time I've been doing." She grabbed her keys and headed for the door.

"And hey, you're the CEO. With the owner doing time I don't think there's really much anyone _can_ say," Rhodey pointed out.

Pepper smiled again as she walked into her garage, shutting and locking the door behind her. "That's an excellent point," she said, unlocking her car door and getting in. She shut the door and set her keys down in her lap.

"Sounds good to me," Rhodey said easily. "Meet you at seven, then? The usual place?"

Pepper nodded, even though she was well aware that he couldn't see it. "Sounds great," she picked up her keys and stuck them in the ignition. "I'll see you then."

"Alright, I'll see you then," Something that sounded like keys jangled, and Pepper assumed he was leaving for work too. "See you, Pep."

"See you then," Pepper said, and then hung up, sticking her phone in the pocket of her purse that sat next to her in the passenger seat. She started the car and hit the garage door button, backing down her driveway before pressing it again. A cautious kind of hope had crept it's way back into her body. All it took was an unexpected call from a friend to wake her up. Suddenly, everything felt very real. She felt more alive than she had in a couple of weeks. The leather of the steering wheel of her silver 2006 Honda Accord, the slight breeze of the vent, the look of the road as she drove down it. She felt grounded. Centralized. Everything served as a reminder of where she was in space and time. Her mood had taken an upturn. She turned onto the highway and took a deep breath.

It was the end of an era, but not of her life. She was moving on. She had retained her friends, she still had a job. She still liked the city she lived in, and she still had a roof over her head. She was okay.

She would be okay.

* * *

After work Pepper had gone home and got changed into jeans and a more comfortable button-down, and took her hair down before dashing out the door again to meet Rhodey on time. On the occasions that they had met up without Tony, they always went to the same place. It was a little Irish Pub that had opened right around the time she had started on with Tony. She'd lingered a little too long in the room and wound up overhearing Rhodey trying to sell the place to Tony, who was adamantly against it. She couldn't help but chip in, and soon enough it'd turned into them listing good qualities about the place at each other. Finally Tony had gotten fed up and stood up saying, "If you two like it so damn much, then why don't you go with each other?"

So they did. Tony had griped about it for a few days after, but he got over it eventually. And so it became their designated meeting spot for years to come.

Pepper pushed through the familiar heavy, green, wooden door and into the bar, smiling to herself. It was a cozy temperature - not too hot, but not cold either - and all of the regulars had claimed their seats. Small lamps that resembled geometric suns hung from the ceiling, along with a couple of fans, a couple drapes of fabric, and bright passport covers that were affixed to the boards. The booths were dark green leather, as were the seats on the stools. The wood in the place was light and gleaming, save for the door and the ceiling itself. The floor was black and some sort of hard surface somewhere between tile and concrete that Pepper could never figure out. The barkeeper was always the same, friendly, very Irish looking man, and the walls and ceiling were darkly colored. They had freshly brewed beer, and inexpensive prices, and it suited Rhodey and Pepper just fine.

Pepper quickly spotted her friend, leaning over the top of the bar a bit, shoulders slightly hunched, an unopened beer in front of him, waiting for her. She made her way across the room and put her hand on his shoulder lightly as she came up behind him. "Hey," she greeted with an easy smile, taking the seat next to him.

Rhodey shot her a beaming smile of his own. "Hey, stranger," he said with a chuckle. "You made it. Right on time, too. Traffic give you any trouble?"

"Nightmare," Pepper said with a sigh. The bartender made his way over and she ordered a glass of wine before continuing. "There was a wreck on the PCH. Everything was stopped."

The bartender stopped to pop open Rhodey's beer and he gave him a nod of thanks. "And yet, you still manage to make it here at seven on the dot. It's no wonder Tony makes it to meetings on time."

Pepper started to laugh but it faltered, her instinctive smile sliding off of her face. She cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Ah...sorry. I didn't mean to...bring him up," Rhodey said in a softer voice, giving her a small, apologetic smile, clearly a bit embarrassed with himself. He had come to catch up, not make the poor woman feel worse.

"No, no, it's fine, really," Pepper said quickly, waving a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. I'm okay, I just wasn't expecting it. I'm good though."

Rhodey assessed her carefully for a moment. "You're sure?"

Pepper nodded, giving him a confident smile. Or what she hoped looked like one. "Yes. I'm sure. I am...100%. I don't wither away at the mention of him. If that was the case, I'd have shriveled up and blown away a long time ago." Her glass got set in front of her and she thanked the bartender before he wandered away again.

Rhodey hesitated a moment and then asked, "So...how are you?" He took a swig of his beer.

Pepper looked up at the soft tone of his voice to find his eyes locked on hers. It was clear that he wasn't just asking to ask. There was a deeper implication. Pepper looked down, focusing her attentions on her glass, moving it in small circles over the wooden bar, sending the red liquid swirling. "I'm okay," she said softer than before. She brought her eyes up to the back of the bar, onto the brass "C'ead mile failte" sign. A hundred thousand welcomes. It sounded good to her. Like exactly what she needed. "Can't complain. I mean I could but," she shrugged. "Doesn't really make anything better." She finally looked at him to find him sympathetically staring back at her.

"I don't know. Sometimes it does," Rhodey pointed out with a small shrug of his own. "I won't make you talk about it...but..." he looked uncertain and then shook his head. "But I'm pretty sure no one else has really given you the chance to. So, here it is. To someone who knows you both pretty damn well."

Pepper took a sip of her wine, thinking things over. She took a moment to process and get her thoughts together before saying, "I just miss him," very quietly.

Rhodey's expression was half-grimace, half-frown. "That's understandable. I'm really sorry. If that means anything at all."

Pepper nodded, flashing him a small but thankful smile. "Don't be. It's not like there's anything you can do, or even could have done. I knew that friendship wouldn't last forever. We're too different. It was...tenuous. He changed. You know, I don't even miss him now. I miss the old him. This whole thing...I don't know. It changed him, I guess."

Rhodey considered that for a moment, nodding a bit hesitantly. "That's...true," he said, sounding semi strained. "But it wasn't...I mean, almost dying could change anyone, right? Temporarily, at least. Look, I'm sorry, but I've got to play Devil's Advocate here, to a certain extent. I'm too close to him not to."

"No, I know. I get that, I wouldn't expect you to walk in here and bash him," Pepper said good-naturedly. "And usually I would agree. I forgave everything that happened within that window. I forgave the party, and the strawberries, and the race car, and all of the fighting that happened. It's the fact that he did this after he already knew that he was going to live. He had no more reason to panic, and he still just...took it all back." Her voice had turned into a whisper by the end and she took another sip of wine. They sat in silence for a moment before she quietly said, "You know, this is usually the part where I just forgive whatever it was anyway. Because I _hate_ fighting with him. I really do. It's exhausting, and I usually don't win anyway. But it's like this time he doesn't want me to forgive him. At least, going by what he said yesterday."

"Wait," Rhodey put out his hand, eyebrows furrowing, looking confused, and a little dismayed. "Hold on, time out. You two talked yesterday?"

"Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Pepper grimaced, wearing a bit of a nasty smile. "Yeah. I arranged a little board meeting with SI to propose a merger."

Now Rhodey's eyebrows rose, but he looked mildly impressed. "A merger, huh? That's pretty big talk. Not a half bad idea, though. If you're on SI's side."

"Which I was," Pepper clarified. "I figured it was the best way to get the patents on arc reactor tech back to Stark Industries. It would eliminate any and all possibilities of the Drone Incident reoccurring. Not to mention it would corner both the arms industry _and_ clean energy..."

"And he turned that down?"

"Didn't even get that far," Pepper explained with a humorless chuckle. "He was throwing comments at me the second I walked into the room."

Rhodey made a face. "Like what?" he asked apprehensively.

"Well, let's see, he referred to me as an, 'it', called me a traitor, called me dumb...oh, yeah, and then he asked me if we were pretending that I wasn't angry because he wouldn't have sex with me, and then told me to take myself to Hammer, because he was sure that I was better than what he was getting in prison," Pepper's jaw was set, and she took a larger drink of her wine, shaking her head. Her foot jiggled against the bar of the stool, annoyed all over again.

Rhodey gaped at her for a moment before rubbing his forehead tiredly, elbow on the bar. "Please be kidding."

"Wish I was."

He sighed heavily. "He really does miss you. I know what. We talked about you and he seemed...sad. He's a mess. I'm not saying that excuses what he said, but it explains a little bit of it. He's upset. He wants you back, but he doesn't know how to do it."

Pepper scoffed. "He's sure got a funny way of showing it."

"He's a little damaged. You know what better than anyone," Rhodey stated. He paused and then said, "He was out of line. I'm sorry he said that. I really...I don't know, I have a hard time believing he meant that."

Pepper nodded slowly, thinking things over. Then she asked, "Do you mind if we change the subject?"

Rhodey lifted a hand. "Not at all."

They were so deep in their conversation that they didn't notice the man in the booth catty-corner to them. He was polishing his camera lens and polishing _off_ his second pint of the night already. His name was Brett Winters, a photographer for the Malibu Times. He was, in all technicality, a serious camera man. He turned down fluff pieces, and instead went for the grittier stuff. Crime, car accidents. The usual. But that night, Brett was a little off his game - and not just because of the alcohol building steadily in his bloodstream. He was a man facing one of the oldest stories in the book. His passion, his great interest, his thing that had started out so exciting and so promising had flopped. His pictures weren't being chosen any more, and his wife was nagging him about not making enough money to warrant his never being home, and his children were so _loud_. Brett Winters - like so many men before him - had pictured his life going differently.

Which was why when he saw Pepper sitting with Rhodey, he perked up a bit. Oh, sure, he recognized them. The now famous Pepper Potts, fearless CEO of Hammer Industries. The woman who changed her allegiances, turned her back on Iron Man to (successfully) save his rival company. And of course, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. Already a decorated Air Force man. Very high up. A poster boy for the military. Recently, he had helped Iron Man save the city _from _ Hammer Industries in a suit of his own. War Machine, they were calling him now. The gossip magazines had speculated for many years that he was Tony Stark's best friend. And anyone who was _anyone_ knew that Pepper had been his PA for years...

No, it wasn't Brett's kind of story. But he was desperate. So he reattached his lens to his camera and took a few discreet shots. He sent them off that night to the Page Six editor marked "urgent" with the header, "STARK'S EX-PA, BEST FRIEND OUT ON DATE". It was fluff, sure. But it was work. That was why he took the shot. In truth, he wasn't a malicious man by any stretch of the imagination. He didn't mean to cause the war that would spawn from that picture. If he was ever told what publishing that photograph had done, he would most likely apologize profusely, perhaps even get sick (he never had delt with guilt well). But he was left blissfully unaware. And for the first time in weeks, Brett slept peacefully in his bed, next to his wife.

But the war had just begun.

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**Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I can't stay away. **

**In which Tony comes to a realization, and takes an offer. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Tony woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Literally.

He was not on the correct side of his mattress. Not on the side that he usually slept on. And for someone who was so insistent on change, he was also very picky when it came to the things that made up his life. Sleeping on the left side of the mattress was one of those things. Even when he was with a girl, he made them sleep on the right side. The left side was his, and his alone.

He opened his eyes and blinked in the morning sun filtering through his blinds, bleary eyed. That was another thing that was off. As a general rule, his blinds were always, _always_ shut. His security was high enough and he was far enough out that he didn't have to worry about paparazzi, but he didn't really like being woken up by the sun. He wanted to wake up when he wanted to wake up - not let nature decide. In fact, the more he thought it through in his sleep addled brain, the more he realized that there was only _one_ person who he ever let open his blinds, and that was...

Tony turned over quickly in bed to see who he was sharing a bed with, everything falling into place as he laid eyes on the female form next to him. He felt himself smile as he took in the strawberry blonde splayed out across the pillow, the dusting of freckles across the back of her pale shoulders, the light scent of lavender coming from her direction. He hesitated - he couldn't remember the last time he hesitated to touch a woman - and then put his hand on her waist, running it over the curve of her hip. She stirred slightly and he scooted up behind her, pulling her to him. He felt so...warm. So at peace. So at _home_. It wasn't a feeling he was used to at all. But he kind of liked it. In fact, he _really_ liked it. So much it terrified him. But he didn't want to run away this time. He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her neck, sweeping her hair out of the way.

The woman stirred again before rolling over to look at him, fixing her Atlantic blue eyes on his chocolate brown ones, beaming at him. "Morning, you," she said quietly, voice a bit rough with sleep.

Tony felt himself smiling back at her, tightening his arm around her waist. He traced patterns absently on her back, trying to figure out why he wasn't freaking out. Usually the second he realized there was still a girl in his bed he was out of there, slipping out quietly and hiding down in the shop until JARVIS told him she was gone. But this woman...she was different. Simply because she was her. He couldn't explain it...but he didn't really care to figure it out. "Morning yourself, Pep."

Pepper reached up and trailed her fingertips lightly over Tony's cheek, and it sent shivers down his spine. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, actually," Tony admitted, sounding a little surprised. "Would have continued to, if someone hadn't opened the blinds."

Pepper rolled her eyes at him, but she was still smiling. "It's past ten. You had to wake up some time, but I didn't want to do that."

"It's past ten?"

"Mmhm."

"Wow," Tony blinked a bit in surprise. "Already? Wait, you never sleep past ten."

Pepper gave him a sheepish smile and a tiny shrug as a response.

Tony narrowed his eyes. "You've been up. For a while. Alright, let me hear it. How long."

"Um," Pepper shifted a bit and then shook her head. "Three or four hours. It's no big deal. I'm an early riser."

Tony's eyebrows were raised so high they damn near blended into his hairline. "Four...four hours? Seriously? You woke up at six on a Saturday morning? You are..." he pulled her towards him again, closing off the last few inches of space that was between them, bringing them chest to chest. "...Delusional. Absolutely crazy. Nuts. We should get you checked." He winked at her, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "But I'm crazy too, so I'll let it slide."

Pepper laughed lightly. "Oh, thank God," she said, voice dripping with a kind of amused sarcasm. "However can I repay you?"

"Well..." Tony blew out a breath like he was pretending to think about it. "Well...I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of things that might...appease me." His eyebrows twitched upward suggestively.

But Pepper just shook her head and gave his shoulder a light smack. "You're impossible. You just woke up. Your libido truly knows no bounds."

"I'm Iron Man."

"Right. Because I managed to forget since the last time you reminded me. So thank you, for that."

"You're welcome. I'm here to help," Tony grinned at her and then said, "Although, I do know what you could do to make it up to me. Ah - don't give me that look. It's not like that. Mostly."

Pepper closed her mouth and raised her eyebrows, waiting, rubbing his shoulder gently. "I'm listening."

"You could...let me kiss you," Tony whispered the last part like it was scandalous and brought their faces closer still. "What do you say to that?"

Pepper bit her bottom lip, locking eyes with him again before letting go of it. "I think that could be arranged," she said softly.

Tony nodded and said, "Right," before pressing his lips to hers, feeling his stomach flip in a way it hadn't in years.

When Pepper pulled back, her lips were slightly parted, and she was searching his face with her eyes, seemingly looking for something. "Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She said it such a soft voice packed with so much emotion that it knocked the wind out of Tony. He gaped at her for a few seconds. "Pepper, I..." he shook his head. "I lo-" But he was cut off by a loud ringing. _Extremely_ loud. So loud that he couldn't hear himself think. He couldn't speak over it. He could see Pepper's lips moving, see her talking, but he couldn't hear her. He couldn't feel her in his arms anymore. "Pepper? Pepper, honey, I can't hear you," he tried.

Pepper continued to try to say something to him, but the words got lost in the sound. She was his own personal silent movie, a horror film played on mute.

"Pepper, I love you. Can you hear me? I love you. _I love you, dammit!_"

Tony sat bolt upright in his desk chair, sending him back a few feet. He was breathing hard, and the ringing was still resonating around the shop. He looked over in the direction of it to see his phone ringing, Rhodey's face on the caller ID. He let out a shaking, heavy breath in the form of a sigh and punched the off button, leaving him sitting there in silence. He took a second to look around, trying to regain his bearings. He took in the half dark shop around him, the monitors running logistics on the suit bracelets (now ninety-seven percent - it had been at fourteen last time he checked), and most importantly the near empty decanter of Scotch sitting in front of him.

It was a dream. It had all been a dream.

"Jesus Christ," Tony muttered, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He let out another breath and his head dropped down between his shoulders. He stayed like that for a moment and then rubbed a hand tiredly over his face, slowly sitting up again. From the corner, Dum-E whirred worriedly. He looked at the bot and then waved a hand. "I'm good. I'm okay."

It had all felt so _real_. Pepper in his arms, her lips on his. Her laugh, her smile, her scent. It was the most realistic dream Tony had ever had. And the hardest one to wake up from. Waking up felt like having his heart ripped out of his chest.

_"Meaning that Hammer Industries is the legal, rightful owner of the arc reactor that's keeping your black little heart beating."_

Tony Stark was not in love. He wasn't. He couldn't be. Love wasn't something he knew much about at all, nor was it something he cared to learn about. It didn't have parts, it didn't run on electricity, it couldn't be taken apart and put back together again, so he didn't care about it.

But in the dream..._in the dream..._

He tried to say it. Dream Tony had tried and failed to tell her he loved her. Which was a ridiculous notion. Tony hated Pepper right then. He far from loved her. But the words were stuck to the roof of his mouth like peanut butter, stubborn and hard to swallow. He still wasn't convinced he felt them. No, not by a long shot. But he felt something. And right then the only way he knew to make himself feel better in the slightest was to free them, if only to allow himself to breathe again. So he whispered it, quietly, alone in his shop.

"I love you."

* * *

When Rhodey walked into the shop, Tony didn't look up. He didn't even flinch. He did nothing to acknowledge his presence. J.A.R.V.I.S. had advised him to read that day's paper about halfway through the morning - he had started getting it delivered for Pepper, he never read them himself - and to pay special attention to the Entertainment section. Begrudgingly he'd gone up the stairs and pawed through the colored plastic sacks of newspapers that had piled up until he found that days. He'd slid it carefully out of it's sleeve, balling up the blue plastic and throwing it in the trash as he made his way back down the steps and to his desk. He ignored the headlines, the pictures of Obama, the stats from the Dodgers latest game, straight to the section he was instructed to go to. He extracted it carefully, and found himself face to face with a rather large picture of Pepper and Rhodey. A picture that the headline informed him was taken of their _date_. He'd realized at that point that that must have been what Rhodey had been calling him about that morning. He hadn't bothered to return the call before, but that pushed him into it. He'd punched Rhodey's contact listing, waited, and then all but growled, "Get here," into the phone.

Which was what brought him to where he was. Sitting in his rolling chair, feet kicked up on his desk, casually reading the paper - with the picture in question very pointedly displayed. He had the paper completely unfolded, standing straight up in his hands, obscuring his face from Rhodey's view. He waited until he heard a pointed throat clearing, and then he folded down the top of the paper to look at his friend, pretending to look surprised and then painting a large, wide, obviously fake smile onto his face, eyes blazing the entire time. "Oh, hey there, _buddy_. Didn't see you there. I was just sitting here reading the paper..."

Rhodey let out a sigh and shifted uncomfortably. He knew what was coming. And he also knew that Tony probably had a whole show to go along with it. "Tony, stop."

"You wanna read something too? I've got you, here, hold on," Tony laid down the Entertainment section and pulled the other sections of the paper toward him. "Do you want, ah..Headlines? No, you get enough of that at work," he tossed it aside. "How about Sports? You seem like a football kind of guy. No? Maybe not," it joined the Headlines. "Mmm, Finance won't do," it slid to the pile. "Not the TV Guide either," it fell on top of the stack. "No, you know what, I know what you want. The Funnies, right? That's in...what, the Entertainment section? OH, hey! That's what I've got here. Well, you know, I was _right_ in the middle of reading about LiLo's latest stint in rehab, but you know what, you're my boy so I can wait." He folded it up, the happy expression starting to slip off of his face as he closed the section and then folded in in half, creasing it angrily. He turned it over to look at the picture, his jaw dropping dramatically in faux shock. "Well, look at that," he said, voice sarcastically chipper as ever, hitting the picture with a flourish. "That's...well, Rhodey, that's you! On a _date_...with Pepper."

Rhodey's jaw was locked, watching him, thoroughly unimpressed. "Look, man, I can explain. If you would just let me -"

"What's there to explain?" Tony cut him off, the friendly act ditched entirely. "A picture's worth a thousand words, right?" He held up the newspaper so that Rhodey could see it to. "And this one's even captioned. No, everything's crystal clear. Hey, don't forget to get your knife from my back on the way out."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Quit being a child and listen to what I am telling you," he kept his voice calm and articulate, even while staring at the snarl that had formed on Tony's face. "That picture is not what it looks like. I never betrayed you. Come on man, you know me better than that."

"Do I?" Tony pressed back. "Because I had no idea that you were going on secret dates _my_ Pepper."

Rhodey stared hard back at him for a moment. "Alright, first of all, _your_ Pepper? If you still think that woman is _your_ anything I think you need to reassess what's really happening here. Second, I _told you_ that was not what they say it is. Look, we went out for a drink, alright? We got caught up. I hadn't seen her since the night that you two kissed."

"Uh-huh," Tony stood up and brushed past him, shoulder-checking him on the way to the liquor cabinet. He grabbed his decanter again and poured himself another drink. "Oh, sorry, I would offer you one, but I have this thing about not sharing my alcohol with liars."

"I. Did not. Lie. To. You," Rhodey said carefully. "Why are you acting like this? It's not the first time Pepper and I have met up without you, you know that. And it's always at the same place. No wrong was done to you."

Tony took a swig and then cleared his throat and asked, "Oh, really? Because this," he pointed to the newspaper still sitting on his desk. "Says otherwise."

Rhodey just gaped at him. "Why are you acting like all of the sudden I'm not allowed to have friends, too?"

Tony fake pouted. "You never make time for me anymore, James," he mock-whined pathetically. He set down his glass and grabbed Rhodey's collar. "I just want you to love me, like you love her."

Rhodey clenched his fists, restraining himself. "Stark, step back," he warned him.

Tony let go of him with a slight shove and grabbed his drink again before heading back to his desk.

Rhodey shook his head and put his hands in his pockets, looking away, taking a minute to collect himself. He just got his place rebuilt from the last time they had had it out. Granted, there were no suits this time, but he still didn't want it to resort to that. After a moment he said, "You know what? I do love Pepper."

Tony's head snapped up to look at him, eyes hard and glinting. "What did you just say to me?" he practically hissed.

"You heard me," Rhodey said solidly. "I love Pepper. I do. In the exact same way I love _your_ sorry ass."

Tony looked away, understanding his point, but still bristling from how he'd chosen to go about it.

"You say you want her back...but this isn't the way to go about it," Rhodey said in a softer voice, trying to access the friend he knew again. "Calling her names, trying to cut her off from her friends...? If you just _apologized_ I'm sure she'd be more than willing to -"

"Yeah, that's great," Tony cut him off, not looking at him. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, alright? Or do. I don't really give a shit."

"Because you don't give a shit about anything, right?" Rhodey scoffed, sounding skeptical. "No one, and nothing. But let me tell you something, Tony. At some point your little act? It's getting real old. Fast."

Tony lifted his eyes to his friends and shrugged. "I don't care," he deadpanned, and then his face split into an empty grin that didn't touch his eyes. "I don't. You, and and Pepper, and everyone else can go ahead and keep telling yourselves that there's something more to me if it helps you sleep better at night, but there isn't. What'cha see is what'cha get." He took another large drink and then added, "And the sooner you realize that, the better."

Rhodey just stared back at him for a moment, and then shook his head again. "I'll tell you what, why don't you give me a call when you're over this little fit? Because I don't want to hear from you before then." And with that he turned on his heel and left again, slamming the glass door behind him.

Tony let out a long breath through his nose after he left, feeling an odd mix of anger and depression. They mingled in his mind, poisoning his thoughts, altering him more than the Palladium ever had. This was a new kind of sick. Sickness of the mind, sickness of the _heart_. Pepper's warning from their phone call ran through his mind again.

_"If you keep operating the way you are right now, you'll wind up with no one. There's only a couple left. Be careful with them."_

He'd thought he'd heeded those words. He'd certainly meant to. He had every intention of doing so. But he realized as he sat there, that he'd done the exact opposite. The Board - who looked after him out of some loyalty felt towards Howard - had turned on him for ruining the merger deal, Happy hated him for hurting Pepper in the first place, and now Rhodey did too. The one person who had stuck around, and he'd succeeded in pushing him away too.

"Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Tony asked the ceiling.

"Yes, sir?" the AI replied promptly.

"You're still my friend, right?"

There was a pause, and then, "I suppose so. Although I fear that I don't count."

Tony frowned swirling his Scotch. "How do you mean?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. hesitated again. "I'm not real, sir," the computer reminded him. "I'm a robot. An Artificial Intelligence program. Friendship appears to be something very human."

Tony ground his teeth a bit, squaring his jaw, nodding slowly. Then, he started laughing. Bitterly, quietly, but he laughed. "Yeah, okay," he muttered before knocking back the rest of his glass.

He was alone.

Gradually a thought began to form in Tony's mind, so loud that he couldn't hear how lonely he was. Couldn't hear commonsense telling him that he was just reckless. That this whole ordeal had pushed him to the edge, or that he should stop and take a breather. All he could see was the blue holographic cube in the corner, turning idly on its vertex. He got up and walked to the Tesseract, tapping on it once, sending all of his research on it and on Asgard popping out of it. His eyes scanned over it, but he wasn't really reading it. Just taking it in. The vast amount of it, the work to be done with it, the potential. "J.A.R.V.I.S.," he addressed the AI again. "Call Fury."

"As you wish, sir, but may I suggest that you do not make any decisions in your altered emotional sta-"

"Mute," Tony cut him off. His voice was quiet as he said, "Sorry. Just dial."

The sound of ringing filled the shop, echoing off of the empty walls. After a moment, Fury's deep voice picked up, answering with a, "Stark." He didn't sound surprised to hear from him. Not in the slightest. He sounded smug - like he knew he would be calling. "What can I do for you?"

Tony hesitated for only a moment before saying. "I'm in."

There was a pause on the line and then, "Excuse me?"

"I'm in," Tony repeated, emotionless, his face blank. "Whatever it is, whatever you think the Tesseract's doors are going to lead to...count me in."

"I'm glad we could do this the easy way," Fury replied. He sounded like he was smiling. "Trust me, this way is much better than what S.H.I.E.L.D. had planned. Agent Coulson will be by this afternoon to read you in. Be home."

"Fine," Tony said, pulling out a bar stool and perching on it.

"Welcome aboard, Stark."

* * *

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	12. Chapter 12

**It's short, but it's an update. Happy Fourth!**

**In which Tony makes a new friend.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Tony was having one of those moments.

He didn't have them often. Not nearly as frequently as someone with his lifestyle should. It was one of those moments where one looks around, and quite suddenly isn't quite sure how they got to that place in their life.

Tony could count on one hand the number of times it had happened before - and he didn't enjoy it. It happened once when he graduated college (and then consequently had to figure out how to go about life as a college grad at such a young age), once when his parents died, and once when he had partied a little _too_ hard, and wound up in the hospital.

And then, of course, there was right then. Sitting on a balcony in a hellicarrier - something he hadn't even known existed - with his legs dangling over the edge, head resting against one of the bars. He didn't regret coming. Not for a second. He knew that this was where he was supposed to be. The world didn't stop turning because Iron Man had a broken heart - it sounded so pathetic, didn't it? _Iron Man_ had a broken heart. He almost scoffed out loud. No, Iron Man didn't have a broken heart. Tony Stark did. And to the public, to the people he was protecting, there was a difference. A disconnect between him and the suit. Tony Stark was an irresponsible playboy. Someone who partied too much, and was a little too rude to, well, everyone, and had a lot more money than sense. He was, effectively, an asshole.

Ah, but Iron Man. _Iron Man._ That was a different story entirely. That was his titanium-gold alloy salvation. The world's favorite paradox. An enigmatic contradiction wrapped in red and gold, offered up as a global peacemaker. The people knew Iron Man. The people trusted Iron Man. It was easily visible in the difference between the awestruck, "Look, mommy, there's Iron Man!" of a child, and the scoffing of, "Tony Stark is at it again" of a reporter.

Iron Man: Yes. Tony Stark: Not Recommended.

Not that Tony could blame them, per se. He knew coming out of that cave in Afghanistan that he wasn't going to waste his second chance at life. So, he built Iron Man. Tried to rewrite his wrongs. Balance his theoretical checkbook by repaying his moral debt. That was all he was focused on. He'd even told Pepper that, at the time.

_There is nothing except this. There's no art opening, no charity, nothing to sign. There's the next mission, and nothing else._

Tony wanted to laugh. Not because it was funny, but because of what great foreshadowing it had turned out to be. At the time, there had been something else. Something that was so obvious, it should have been glowing neon. Had flashing lights and buzzers. Spun, and jumped. Although, he supposed that that still wouldn't have made Tony notice. After all, it did all sorts of other noticeable things. It came and went every day. It spoke, and it laughed, and it _breathed_.

And it had been staring back at him right as he said those words.

It was Pepper.

Though, now, Tony supposed, there really was nothing else. He'd made sure of that. He didn't have any family to speak of. His mother and father had both been only children, and anyone who had come before them were long gone. He'd all but escorted Pepper out the door, and then she'd locked it behind her. Happy left right on her coattails, and all on his own. And for good measure, he'd kicked out the one person still on his side while he was at it. Over a picture that he knew probably wasn't what it looked like.

_There's the next mission, and nothing else._

His thoughts were interrupted by soft footfalls behind him. They sounded different than everyone else's on the hellicarrier. They didn't sound like the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. work boots, nor did they sound like they had any bulk of weight behind them. They were quiet. Light. They sounded like street shoes.

There was a throat clearing, and then a placid voice said, "You look lonely."

Tony didn't turn to see who was speaking. He didn't need to. There was only one possible option as to who it could have been. He only turned his head enough that his ear was better positioned to hear who was speaking. He was listening. "Yeah," he scoffed. "Lonely. Just a man and his thoughts. And, you know, five thousand of my closest friends in a ship with wings."

The man chuckled quietly, and there was the soft swishing of khaki's as hands slipped into pockets. "I would suggest taking asylum in a different country, but they still managed to find me." He walked up next to Tony, looking down. "Mind if I sit?"

Tony regarded him carefully for a minute, and then waved a hand. In all honesty, he _did_ mind a bit. But the newcomer intrigued him, and - so far - didn't seem as annoying as the others. At least he was quiet.

"Thank you," he said warmly, taking a seat next to Tony, being careful not to invade the other man's space. He looked at him. "I don't think we've been properly introduced."

At this, Tony finally smirked. "You, Dr. Banner, are a man who needs no introduction. Your alter ego does all the talking."

Banner smiled softly in return, surprising Tony a bit. "Yeah, yeah I get that. Although, I could say the same about you. The infamous Tony Stark."

Tony looked at him, prepared to roll his eyes, only to find him looking amused. He was kidding. He let out an amused shot of air out of his nose and then shook his head, electing to remain silent. There was a pause, and then he asked, "So, what, they sent you here to check on me? Make sure I hadn't jumped?"

Banner shook his head, looking genuinely innocent. "Nah, I wandered away on my own. It's funny. You'd think they'd keep better track of the biggest potential threat on here. No pun intended."

Tony glanced at him again, and then looked back out. "Wow. You really are new around here. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't give a shit until they need something. Believe me, they'll let you know."

"Yeah?"

Tony nodded.

"Because word on the...ship is that you _chose_ to come here."

"Yeah?"

Banner nodded.

"And who's saying that, exactly?"

Banner shrugged like he didn't really know. "I've heard it from a few people. Enough that I thought I'd ask. You don't really seem like the type."

Tony looked at him for a moment and then away again. "So, you came down here to shrink my head, then."

Banner laughed lightly again. "Nah, no, I don't think so," he shook his head and took hold of the bars in front of him. "I'm not that kind of doctor."

"Good," Tony said soundly. "Tell that to the others, will you? Swear to God, if one more person looks at me like they pity me I might...well, I might turn into you."

Banner's smile was quiet, but it never left his face. He looked for all the world like he knew something Tony didn't. "I don't think they pity you," he said with a shrug. "I don't think that's the problem." He waited, looking at Tony until he made eye contact. "I think everyone was kind of relying on you to be the one with a reason to go home again."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again.

"Think about it," Banner urged calmly. "Who else here does? Ms. Romanov doesn't exactly seem to be the nurturing type. Thor is a...god. He can go home even if all hell breaks loose here. Captain Rogers is...what, ninety? Everyone he had is long gone. And then there's me. Who was hiding. Alone. You were the only one with someone...you know, waiting for you."

Tony took a deep breath, and then tapped his knuckles lightly on the metal bar. "Yeah, well. Shit happens. I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you. I have plenty of reasons to go home. I'll be damned if I'm dying for Nick Fury."

Banner nodded, looking out over the balcony again, seemingly going into his own thoughts.

Tony continued to look at him for a moment, trying to find an alterior motive and not coming up with one. He took the man's silence as a sign that he really did just want to sit, and left it at that, averting his eyes once more. He was just contemplating getting up and finding a less populated area of the ship when Banner spoke again.

"I've been there, you know."

Tony looked back at him, but he was still staring out, almost as if he hadn't spoken. He blinked and then cleared his throat, shifting. "Been where?"

"Where you are," Banner said simply. "Alone. Missing someone. Feeling like the thing that makes you different from everyone else is the thing you want to get away from the most...which in turn means wanting to get away from yourself. I've been there."

Tony scoffed. "We are _not_ the same."

Banner shrugged. "Maybe not in some ways. I mean, at least you seem to...enjoy, your," he gestured to the arc reactor, at a loss as to what to call it. "At least you can control it. It saved you."

Tony glanced down at it. "Hey, I've read all about your 'accident'. That much gamma exposure? Should have killed you."

Banner finally looked at him. "So you're saying that the Hulk...the Other Guy...saved my life?"

Tony nodded.

Banner gave another low, light laugh. "That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. You prepared to accept that yourself?"

Tony stared back at him for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes.

"Don't look so offended. Maybe we're more alike than you think," Banner let out a small, warm smile as a peace offering. "There is one key difference, though."

Tony clenched his jaw to prevent the comment about to trip off the tip of his tongue from leaving his mouth.

"You still have a chance to change it," Banner finished. He let that sink in for a moment, and then stood carefully, brushing off his pants, and walking away.

* * *

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